I’m worse off after the increase
EVERY penny counts for struggling pensioner and unpaid carer Norman Phillips.
This month’s 8.5% increase in the state pension is a welcome bit of good news but as other costs rise he will be worse off.
Norman, 72, from Stevenage, Herts, was once a high-flying manager for Fujitsu but his life changed in 2008.
He was forced into early retirement at 58 to care for his wife Ros, who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
He had tried juggling work and caring responsibilities but it was too much. Norman was spending half his income on care costs and had to sell the family home to pay £40,000 debts.
He now rents but the council has hiked his sheltered accommodation charges 10% which will wipe out any state pension increase.
Disconnected
This, coupled with other rising bills, has forced Norman back to work and he now toils as a private hire driver, ferrying special educational needs kids.
He said: “My outgoings have gone up considerably and my want pot gets smaller as my need pot gets bigger. I haven’t seen the state pension increase yet. I used to get £974 every four weeks.
“Every little helps but the extra I am set to receive won’t really make a difference because I will still be worse off. The increase won’t cover the rise in my overall costs.
“My outgoings outstrip the rise in state pension and that’s why I have gone back to work at my age.”
Last week he went without sleep for 72 hours as he tried to juggle his domestic duties with work.
Norman said: “When dealing with officialdom, common sense gets disconnected. The amount of money they waste is extraordinary.
“We fall, we break, we fail – but then we rise, we heal and we overcome.”