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

I would only agree to something like this if it were tapered in to allow people who have contributed already to receive an amount representing their contributions.

You have to also expect that people will look to plan to keep their private pension low (and save in other ways) to maximise entitlement to state pension.

That’s about full time at minimum wage. No family is expected to live off one minimum wage salary and they would certainly be receiving UC if this was all of their income.

Work hard, save for your retirement and then have it all taken from you to give to people who choose not to work.

Yep, at 65, I've paid 46 years (and only need 35). Yet some people on this thread think I don't deserve the state pension on which I will pay tax.

But ive paid NI contributions for 20 years based on entitlement to state pension.

You can't take that away from people who've paid in on the basis they are entitled to something. Ive also saved my private pension on the basis it will be topped up by state, its not fair to do this to people twenty or thirty years into their working life.

It's ChatGPT. "Sorry, when you said pensions, I looked at the sales of M&S trifles instead. My bad!"

Jesus wept

What tosh. How about sorting the NHS out, they waste billions a year.

This is incorrect. NI does drop from 8% to 2% on earnings over £50K (actually £967 a week) but there is no upper limit above which NI is not paid.

How about looking at the completely unaffordable public sector pensions? Future debts way in excess of our total GDP.

I'm 65. I'm dreading being 85 and being the recipient of the levels of unkindness afforded the elderly on this thread. It seems as if some younger people would like us stripped of our assets and put into compounds. That happened to a group of people the prevailing political party didn't like in Germany in the 1930s. Some of the comments on this thread are terrifying.

and it’s unsustainable.

Oension should be means tested. As should disability benefits. If you’ve got the means to live you shouldn’t be getting free money.

This. MN absolutely hates pensioners we know, but the garbage some posters use to try to support that view with beggars belief sometimes.

Just as today’s pensioners paid the pensions of those who went before them, with the expectation that those who came behind would pay theirs. That’s how it works.

@MrsSkylerWhite

Sorry Mrs White. I want my tax spent on UK citizens that have contributed and work hard.

The majority also goes on treating women… how does that to pact your argument?

Pp was kind enough to post you a link to social contract theory, as it appeared to be a new concept for you. Why not give it a read and see what we’re referring to.

Why means test at a paltry £12000 a year ? Or are you happy to make the divide between rich and poor even wider ? Even the cut off point for WFA is a realistic £35000.

It doesn't matter how much isi put into the NHS, it will never be spent on the right things. 170 PCN's prevail, each with a budget of £10m, probably each and every one of them pissing a significant amount of that money up the wall. Each with IT depts, HR depts, Finance Depts, Comms Depts, etc.

Oh, here we go 🙄

Exactly. AI is very good at sounding convincing. It'll swear I lead meetings I didn't even attend. It hallucinates and makes stuff up. Economic policy can't be based on ChatGPT on mumsnet. I suggest you send your policy recommendation to your mp and they may choose to ask a question in parliament on it that'll be answered by actual experts

Even though the Conservatives increased spending, they did not increase it sufficiently to cover the rise in costs caused by inflation, and nor did they significantly increase expenditure on capital items - building new healthcare facilities, replacing worn out and obsolete equipment, improving IT capability or on maintaining and repairing existing buildings.

I won't dispute that the last Conservative government put more money in - but it was still not enough to cover the consequences of shortfall caused by previous Conservative and Coalition governments, and nowhere near enough to cover the increased demands of a population where many more people are growing older and requiring more health care. It is clearly possible for a government to "put more money into the NHS" and for the NHS to still be starved of the necessary funds if the amount of "more money" is far from what is needed.

Here is some savings!
The UK is projected to spend over £15.3 billion on asylum accommodation between 2019 and 2029, with current daily costs reaching £5.5 million.

Here’s a breakdown of the key figures and context:

💰 Total Cost of Asylum Accommodation

• £15.3 billion: Estimated total cost for asylum accommodation contracts from 2019 to 2029, tripling from the original £4.5 billion projection Sky News +3.
• This includes housing, support services, and administrative costs.

🏨 Hotel Accommodation Costs

• £4.76 billion: Spent in 2024–25 alone, with 76% of that going toward hotel accommodation visaverge.com.
• £5.5 million per day: Current daily expenditure on housing asylum seekers in hotels Internationa....
• 32,000 people: Still housed in hotels as of mid-2025, down from ~56,000 in September 2023 visaverge.com.

🚫 Failed Asylum Claims

• £62 million annually: Spent on housing and support for asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected but remain in the UK due to destitution risks Daily Express.

🏘️ Government Strategy

• The Home Office and Prime Minister Keir Starmer have pledged to end the use of hotels by 2029, shifting to military sites and private rentals Inverness... +3.
• Two military barracks (Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex) are already being repurposed to house asylum seekers Inverness... +1.

⚠️ Why Costs Are So High

• Backlog of asylum claims: Record 111,084 claims in the year ending June 2025—the highest since 1979 visaverge.com.
• Flawed contracts and delivery: MPs have criticized the Home Office for mismanagement and failing to reclaim excess profits from providers Sky News +2.
• Shortage of long-term housing: Reliance on hotels surged due to limited rental supply and slow processing times.

While the data source might be legit, unless you query ChatGPT several times you will still get a narrow answer. For example, did you ask how people could circumvent your proposed changes? What about different scenarios where people changed their behavior re personal pension saving? Did you also factor in differences in the home nations?

When I was in my laye 40s I expected to retire at 60. My state pension age is currently 66. I have already worked an additional 5.5 years, paying tax and NI than I expected to. I don't mind because I like work. But my generation is already being squeezed.

My grandparents generation was heartily squeezed by IHT in the late 70s. That's why my family no longer owns a working farm.

Great idea. It would only reduce my income in retirement by £4500 per year. Still,I could always get a time machine and make different career and savings choices over the last 4 decades.

I wouldn't be averse to the idea of cutting National Insurance and increasing income tax.

Big question re the original idea is why the whole £30billion is to come from pension cuts.