AIBU to think that I shouldn't have bothered working and paying into National Insurance for the 35 years I have done so?

We are not well off and watch the pennies but the attitude of some people here is very depressing. Absolutely obsessed with the people scamming the system, and let's be honest there will be people like this whatever the system under whatever the government. Stop lumping these idle poor in with those that need our compassion.

Paying NI and tax to support those in need is the RIGHT thing to do. Those widowed with a young family, those disabled, those caring, those made redundant and can't get a job due to ageism, those fleeing war, those with long term health conditions. It's a massive list and YOU could be one of them in an instant.

Would you swap places with them voluntarily if you got all these perceived benefits? I wouldn't.

loads of people work for public services with good pensions……and we don’t all live in London you know…..i never had even a quarter of a million £ house

It's insurance though rather than a pension pot.
You've been lucky to be healthy enough to work throughout your life. Had you become seriously ill or disabled you would have received benefits to support you through that. If you had children you would have been supported through that - SMP & child benefit.
It's like any insurance house or car you pay into it so it covers you if something awful happens. You don't get a payout just because you've got 35 years no claims on your car insurance!

Yeah exactly, it is weird you get more for not having your full stamps than someone on state pension. It'll be different going forward where employer contributions to pensions were made mandatory, but a lot of people retired now worked for decades before this was a thing and so plenty got a paltry lump sum or paltry monthly payments if anything and just the state pension.

A bit financially maybe but those who worked part time or not at all had a better work life balance, saw the kuds more, got benefits to top everything up. Those that worked full time & worked hard scrimping and saving and putting into a pension to make sensible choices ate now suffering a second time over.

Jeez! What you're suggesting would privilege the wealthy even more so than they are currently, and society would be much more unequal. How would you feel if you needed a medical treatment but were told you're not getting it because you hadn't contributed enough, even though you'd worked all your days? Or that only one of your children will get an education because you haven't contributed enough for the second child?

Most of us are not net contributers, that is, we get more out of society than we pay in - our taxes help to build a functioning society, they provide education and health care, they provide local and national infrastructure and civic amenities, they subsidise low paid (often key) workers; our taxes don't simply pay for "benefits", and you most likely "benefit" more than you contribute.

Your suggestion would take us back to Victorian times... high infant mortality, death by poverty.

🙄

Agreed.

@Smilersam Sorry what happens to profoundly disabled people? My daughter is blind, epileptic, quadriplegic, non verbal, tube fed, and with a severe learning disability thrown in for shits and gigs. I work part time in a good job, if it weren’t for my daughters needs I would work full time. My daughter can’t even swallow food or hold a spoon how is she expected to work?

Yes completely agree.

He’s done well to have contributed little to the pot but still be able to claim a UK pension. I think there is an argument to make benefits based on an individual’s contributions with exemplars for the disabled

Just shocking, isn't it? I have a child with severe ASD and learning difficulties too. They will need lifelong 24/7 care (which will have to be largely provided by me leaving me unable to earn enough for a living) and people think we should therefore starve to death :(

Well ...
I hope you didn't vote for the Comrades.

So you think that my autistic DS with severe learning difficulties who can just about write his own name and can't be left unsupervised in any situation for his own safety (eg he needs someone to hold onto him fairly tight near roads so he doesn't just step straight onto them) should just starve, then?

‘The reality is average wage earners actually take home more or less the same net amount as someone being topped up by or someone living solely off the state. So both are screwed but one is juggling everything thinking they are doing the right thing to better themselves whilst the other is no better off financially but has an easier time of it.’

This! Work doesn’t pay in the UK for too many people.

You can have just enough and work or just enough and complete freedom.

I feel like I have slogged for 40 years to support my own family and a whole other one.

And an essay that doesn't use offensive terms would be good too!

Sickening isn’t it? Work hard and you end up subsidising people who have sat on their lazy arses all their lives.

And your point is?

Pension credit is for anyone over the state pension age that earns below a certain amount.
So it could be anyone who for whatever reason doesn't qualify for a full state pension. So it could be, as someone upthread said, for a 68 year old who lived abroad for years and didn't pay NI here for years so doesn't qualify for the full state pension.
This is the point people are making. If you work hard and qualify for the full state pension, you won't get pension credits so lose out on all the benefits that comes with. You'll be worse off that those on pension credit.
I doubt anyone would be complaining if pension credit was "just" for those on the old lower state pension.

That is only if you have the full years of contributions, many haven't as there has recently been a push to get people to pay for the missing years

OP I sympathise.

I guess working means you don’t have the chance of benefits being cut. And technically there is a chance of promotion/a better job. Whereas on benefits you are totally dependent on the government and at risk of them changing their mind on what you can get.

Try not to compare. Easier said than done. Enjoy the small moments with your family. I know pride doesn’t pay the bills but I would be damn proud of what you have done as a single mum.

Anyone retiring now will not qualify for pension credit. I wish people would understand this rather than keep thinking anyone gets it.

If you retired before 2016 you get the lower rate state pension and can claim pension credit. After 2016 the government increased the state pension slightly which puts people over the limit for claiming pension credit.

I will retire later this year on state pension only, so I am worried exactly how I will cope. I have worked all my life, but bad choices, single parent to a very sick child, toxic marriage put paid to saving into a private pension.

no, not everyone can work. It's complete nonsense to claim that every single person regardless of disability (or caring responsibilities) can. utter nonsense.

There has recently been a push for people to pay missing years to get the full pension, not such a good idea now, some would have used savings and now will be worse off.

Yes, the baby boomers have much better chance to own a property that cost millions. My Dad didn't earn much, mum never worked, we are siblings of 7, they both retired at 50 owning a property in London living comfortably with their state pension.

You also have generous pension through working for nhs, you can't really compare to most of us.

Yeah. I paid NI contributions for 50 years!