States members have been challenged to try to live on the States pension for a few weeks.
Faced with the potential threat of cuts to the real-terms value of their pensions, people at an Age Concern drop-in at the Vale Douzaine Room yesterday afternoon were indignant at the prospect.
‘It’s diabolical after I’ve paid in all of my life,’ said one.
‘We can’t manage on it now, the cost of the weekly shop has gone up so much, so it should be going up not down,’ said another.
The views of 92-year-old Nola Morey were typical of those in the room.
‘What they want to stop and think about is what they will feel like when they grow old. Put themselves in our position. We are certainly not living a life of luxury. You have to say to yourself that you can’t do this, or you can’t buy that. We used to be able to, but we can’t afford it any more,’ she said.
Meanwhile, in a cutting display of black humour, Pat Masterman, 80, said that if the pension went down, and pensioners lost free medical prescriptions, there would be no need to revisit another difficult States debate.
‘They’re on about bringing assisted dying back again.
‘Well they won’t need to do that, because half of us who are on pills will probably die anyway, because we won’t be able to afford them,’ she said.
Turning serious, Pat reflected on the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
‘We can’t manage now on the pension,’ she said.
‘I mean I go into a shop to get my weekly shopping, and I’m talking about £60 or more. I live in a States house, but it’s hard for those who have their own place because they don’t get the same assistance. Some people have scrimped and saved all of their life and now they are going have things taken away from them. It doesn’t seem fair, it doesn’t seem right.’
Other comments from many around the room included the suggestion that a lot of the cash saved in paying pensions would have to be spent on Income Support instead.
Views were split over the related subject of last week’s tax reform debate, now paused, with some fearing a goods and services tax would make things more expensive, but others saying it was the States’ failure to agree on a way to raise enough money which had led to them having to looking at making unacceptable cuts.
One lady, who did not want to give her name, summed up the views of several at her table.
‘I’m Guernsey through and through, same as you. I’ve paid my dues all my life, my parents did too, everybody does, so to think about cutting the pension is completely wrong. There are other things they can cut.’
Age Concern chairman David Inglis said earlier this week that last week’s debate, and the reaction from senior States committee presidents, were bound to cause concern for local pensioners.
‘Sometimes it feels like the first response to balancing the States’ books is to hit the older generation,' he said.