I’ve easily found £30bn of savings, so why can’t the government do this?

Any thoughts on those of us who paid voluntary NICs? By law we should be refunded them plus compound interest.

To be honest I’d be very pissed off. I’ve worked my fingers to the bone since I was still at school. I’ve saved hard, invested in private pension, not taken holidays, not had new cars, stayed in a small house. I’ve paid a lot of tax, never had a single penny from the government apart from child benefit (and then that got stopped as dh earned too much).

Ive made plans for my retirement based on including a state pension (I’m in my 50s now). Why should I be penalised when people who either haven’t worked or haven’t saved, who may not have paid as much tax get given it all. There’s too many shirkers in this country who are out for everything and don’t work. That needs looking at first.

How about means testing some benefits like PIP, winter fuel allowance , child tax credits (no idea if the latter already is means tested). I mean if you’re going to means test pensions I think you have to means test everything.

Like others, I'm interested in why you left Universal Credit out of your AI calculations. It seems like an obvious starting point. Why are able bodied people working part time hours funded by disabled people working full time hours?

I was just about to say that. I had no idea that anyone thought chat GPT was always accurate!

Exactly this. It’s such a ridiculous idea and those coming up for retirement should have the option of not saving instead of having their state pension reduced after decades of funding others getting a full state pension whilst being sensible.

Also why should those that decide to just not bother with putting money into a pension choosing to fritter it instead be rewarded?

We went without to pay off our mortgage and into a pension when others around us decided to over borrow, and waste money on endless DIY, car schemes and holidays. Why should our careful budgeting be penalised and frittering be rewarded?

One way of guaranteeing losing the next election. Pensioners have already been hit by pushing back retirement age. Why not means test the NHS and schools, if you can pay for treatment or to send your kids to school, you pay. Make the unemployed work, reduce benefit payments, stop people having children they can't afford? Plenty of ways to save money, as long as it doesn't affect the person making the proposal (or not yet anyway).

Honestly just wondering what age you are op?

I'm currently working in a high demand role part time in spite of being disabled. One of the main reasons I'm still there is for my pension in case (low chance) I survive long enough to claim it. Some people with my condition don't work, especially in the later stages, and survive on benefits. Should I copy them? Just give up work and expect other people to take care of me?

People need a reason to work hard. Britain has a productivity problem because too many people sit back waiting for other people to fund them. People who work hard are penalised to fund people who don't work at all or work less than 16 hours. No wonder our country is getting poorer and poorer.

That’s not how you wrote it, you didn’t say households at £25k and above…

Exactly my guess is OP is on universal credit so wouldn’t even consider this a problem

12k is nothing, I’ve paid tax for years to contribute to this and pensioners vote. Make it 50k or even 100k - but not sure how much you would save then

Why are we always so keen to keep taking off those who have already contributed? I’m not a high earner, definitely in the squeezed middle, but I’m so sick of seeing it. This government is so keen to be seen to “level up” that all they do is keep trying to make the richer people poorer, whilst leaving those not contributing being carried by society.

Not a bad idea at all but step 1 would have to be to get rid of NI by increasing income tax. People won’t wear a means tested state pension while we maintain the fiction that your state pension is funded by your NIcs.

Thankfully ChatGPT isn’t being used to make public policy.

It’s never accurate on statistics, by the way.

I’d cash mine out and give it to my kids no matter what the tax penalty was.

Much of our post retirement income is rental from a flat I used to live in. How would you determine income from non pension sources (consultancy income, royalties) and would you include savings? Property? Gifts?

Yeah, no.

I would just be bloody pissed off that I have paid in for 35 years and you are proposing that I won't get a pay out because I also had the foresight to have a private pension. I could have put the private pension money into shares instead and got my state pension.

If you changed it so you either pay into a state system or a private one, maybe, but it couldn't be retrospective. You can't just take away a benefit people have paid into for 40 years.

Sorry but that is poverty. £12k/yr for households ( usually two people)?

and also the %s would change every year so you can’t promise this.

So my decades of paying into a state pension for the generation before me is wiped out when it's my turn? And by paying into a private pension for decades means I'm not entitled to any state pension? This would encourage everyone to not have a private pension or be careful.

And implementing your idea could easily cost a fortune and cause protesting and further reliance on the state.

Whenever people come up with these ideas, they completely forget to factor in that people will change their behaviour accordingly. You have based your sums on the assumption that if you did this, then everyone would continue as they are. But of course, they wouldn’t. Those whose private pensions are the same ish, would just not bother saving.

OP seems to be ignoring points like this

@OwnGravityField so you're proposing taking away the pension from people who currently receive it? And who have made their financial calculations based on receiving it? Or are you proposing a gradual implementation?

Personally, having paid additional years of NI to bring me up to full pensionable years, I'd sue a a government who then didn't pay my pension.

I do have a small work pension but I could not survive on it. I also have some savings but I expect they will be used to fund my care in older age.