Wealthy pernsioners on course to lose taxpayer handouts as Government pledges to reevaluate the fairness of the welfare system
Free bus passes, TV licences and winter fuel allowance all under threat from Pensions Secretary Damian Green
BENEFITS for wealthy OAPs could be scrapped in a boost to The Sun’s Ditch Handouts to the Rich campaign.
The Government has pledged to finally look at “intergenerational fairness” in the welfare system.
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David Cameron consistently ring-fenced payouts to rich OAPs including free TV licences and bus passes and winter fuel payments when in No10.
Those and other perks for the elderly cost taxpayers at least £8billion a year.
But Pensions Secretary Damian Green yesterday said he will not follow in the footsteps of Iain Duncan Smith, who held the post under Mr Cameron.
He said: “I am different from Iain. If we look over the long term, pensioner poverty in the 1980s was 40 per cent of pensioners. It’s now down to 14 per cent — that’s an enormous beneficial social revolution.
“We need to look over time at the area of intergenerational fairness.”
The announcement could even mean the end of the “triple lock” pensions protection after the 2020 election.
Mr Green also told the BBC he will stick to planned welfare cuts — but that there will not be a “new search” for others.
