Is it time to look again at universal benefits for pensioners?

Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, says that this government, like the last, has been "favouring pensioners" in the benefits system. Means testing benefits could save £1-2bn, he says.

Christian Guy, managing director of the Centre for Social Justice, told the Today programme that these benefits "need to be on the table".

Mervyn Kohler, special advisor to Age UK, says that the wealth of the UK's pensioner population is "very badly spread", so means testing would will not yield very much money.

He told Sarah Montague that "we would have a much more depressed older population" without winter fuel allowance or free bus passes.

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