Both my husband and myself have had to go to the opticians this week and we both needed new glasses. I was hoping that as pensioners we might have qualified for some kind of financial help to pay for them, especially as my husband is registered as severly sight impaired. But, as usual, there is nothing in the pot for us.
I am seriously miffed about this, both of us have worked all our adult lives and paid all our taxes and national insurance, and when you're on low wages as we both were it was quite a big outgoing from our wages, but amid promises of 'being taken care of in our old age' we was happy enough to pay up, had no choice really.

But then we also got sucked into the private works pension scheme. The glossy brochures showed the life of riley, swanning round the golf course in a buggy, luxury cruises not to mention the idyllic cottage with roses round the door.....Oh yes we would be able to afford a superb retirement, so we duly paid up looking forwards to that comfortable retirement.
The reality of that pension is that we are kept just above the level for any kind of financial help or benefit, and i do mean that we are within a fiver above the limits. If we hadn't paid out for that pension we could have been so much better off, i might at least have had help to pay the rent etc. and this week i wouldn't have had to pay so much for essential specs. (And i'm also miffed that I've had to pay for a full pair of specs for hubs even tho he only has sight in one eye - so one lens is plain glass!!!!!!)

So beware of those works pensions, unless you're in a gold plated job of course, they don't pay out quite like they promise to, and you could end up like us being worse off.