To be angry with people who describe the old age pension as a "benefit"?

And I didn’t say that people on disability don’t work. I’m aware that some do, as in claiming PIP, you can still work. I was saying that 4 million people claim for disability.

She is if she’s had 10 years of child benefit.

Sorry OP, this isn’t right.

You paid NICs which paid towards the pensions of those currently retired. Workers today like me pay NICs to cover your pension.

Govt today add tax relief at a huge cost to HM Treasury to worker’s private defined contribution pensions. There’s not some grand conspiracy to rob your money. People are living far longer than they used to and the state simply can’t afford to pay pensions out for 30 years plus.

But that means, as I said, that she wouldn’t receive state pension. Pension credit is a benefit paid to people who don’t qualify for state benefit. Pension credit isn’t the state pension. She may be entitled to other benefits, but if she has never paid in, then she is not entitled to the state pension.

Have you fact checked each point? Or are you an expert on the subject?

10 years of child benefit makes you eligible.

She probably will: pension credits etc

Have you fact checked each point to check if each one is indeed accurate? Genuine question: the results often “look” plausible but do not always stand up to scrutiny. So, should be taken with a pinch of salt and not relied upon

That’s not correct. Four million people are currently claiming disability benefits or incapacity benefits. There is a difference between the two. You can claim disability benefits and still work - just under 20% of PIP claimants work. Incapacity benefits from recipients do not work except in very limited circumstances where a small amount of ‘permitted work’ is considered therapeutic.

I’m would imagine that if she made the decision to never work til retirement that she had a husband or partner supporting her financially. I can’t imagine she spent her entire life at working age (40+ years) claiming unemployment benefit.

You are if you’ve been in receipt 10 years of child benefit and then it’s topped with pension credit so you’re better off as you’re eligible for other benefits.

Nope! £549,638, assuming compound interest paid once at the end of each year.

@E11i0ttD Yes I understand that, but that's the hope with any pension isn't it? If you just got back what you paid in, very few people would ever retire, even those with private or invested pensions.

She probably will if she was claiming unemployment benefits though, as I and PP have said upthread. It's not as "simple as that".

Your daughter’s grandmother, if she never worked, will not be entitled to a state pension you’ll be pleased to know. If you don’t pay in, then you don’t get a state pension. Simple as that.

This. It’s happened quite a few times on this thread. People have absolutely no idea of how severe mental health conditions have to be in order to qualify for disability benefits. And in the absence of that knowledge they parrot government rhetoric from politicians who, since coming to government, have demonstrated repeatedly that they have no idea how difficult it is to qualify for disability benefits either, and who will trot out any old crap to justify cutting them.

4 million people of working age are claiming disability currently. Why else do you think Starmer was trying to get a review in place?

The net contributors don't. Hence they should receive it.

Whereas you are right in general, using that example doesn't help, as what the poster copied does give the right answers in this case.

But they get more than what they paid in, way more.

I do understand how the state pension works, and I do understand the benefits from it are variable and the age you can claim it is also variable. Finally I understand that our NI doesn't cover all of the things it should , like a proper social insurance scheme.

However, I also understand the spirit of what the OP is saying. People have paid in with the expectation that they would get something out, there is an implicit deal there. In fact all of our public services are based on that- pay in when you don't need it, and it'll be there for you if you do. If the state pension is scrapped I think people would have a right to be pissed off.

@Livelovebehappy But unfortunately atm, younger generations are looking for someone to blame for the current situation the country is in in respect of finance shortfall. As there are an increasing amount of people claiming disability and other benefits, they’re not going to bite the hand that feeds them, so they’ve nominated pensioners and ‘boomers’ as their scapegoats.

People claiming benefits due to disabilities is a tiny fraction of government spending.

It was indeed boomers who decided to appropriate housing (of all things) as an 'investment'.

Was this quite a while ago? I was cut off by some jobsworth from the Pension Service because I refused to refer to my pension a benefit - he rather snottily said thst he wouldn't engage with me again until I accepted it was a benefit. I wouldn't so there wasn't any point ringing them back. I can still remember how angry I felt being spoken to as though I was some schoolgirl (even though I was being a tad childish).

Well it’s your choice to apply the word ‘handout’ to benefit recipients, so the fact that you’re insulted by the fact that the state pension is defined as a benefit, is down to your own prejudices in how you see benefit claimants.

When the state pays you any kind of benefit it does so from the national insurance fund, which is where state pension is paid from. Anyone who has worked at any time has paid into the fund at some point and if they fall into unemployment or become ill or disabled the state honours the contract under which they paid in - just as with the state pension - and they are paid the appropriate benefit. Those who have never worked are paid means tested benefits not requiring NI contributions, from that same fund, and again, according to the same social contract which guarantees a minimum safety net for everyone.

So l don’t see the problem, unless it’s that you don’t want to be associated with benefit claimants because you consider them to be feckless scroungers - which your use of the words ‘handout’ and ‘insult’ in this context seems to imply.

I wish her the very best in her endeavours.
I am tired of seeing people talk about mental health issues as though they're all the same and suggest that people with severe and enduring mental health conditions have them by choice.