What is the point of paying NI for 35 years to get a full State Pension, when people who have never worked receive Pension Credit anyway?

He is a British citizen who was working for a Russian company, the government stopped him. How could he return to Russia, there's a travel ban and it became a criminal offence to continue working for them. Please read the post.

It is also illegal for the British government to prevent British Citizens from returning to Britain unless they have dual nationality.

The benefit claimants I see are not vulnerable. Many of them are criminals causing untold misery to decent people.

It’s not true that people who aren’t on pension credit can’t get help with housing costs, council tax etc - it depends on total
income, local housing allowance etc
I am hoping to retire at 67 with a full state pension, a small private pension, be mortgage free with about £100k in savings and continue working in my other job 1-2 days a week to fund my travel habits
Ive never been a high earner, was a lone parent since DC were 4 and 5, and am still a lone householder which costs more - but I’m frugal and cut costs where I can to hopefully have a reasonable retirement

I want people to acknowledge that our country is rapidly declining due to, in big part, the fact we have SO MANY able bodied people not working and claiming benefits they frankly shouldn’t be entitled to. And some of the amounts paid are staggering and frankly take the piss.

It’s like you can’t make the connection that money doesn’t appear out of thin air if you rub a magic lamp and ‘deserve it enough’

Yep, a country is judged by how it treats it's most vulnerable members.

OK, what is it you want? Do you want everyone to agree with you and say that all people on PC were lazy, and just sat on their bums until they retired. They lived limited lives for 40+ years for that sweet Pension Credit.
I was giving an example of why that is not the case. You seem awfully defensive when someone wants to counter your point.

I would hate to live in a society that didn't look after the elderly or disabled. It would be horrible . . .

Why would they starve? They would go back to the country they had paid NI in and claim a pension there.

I don't think it would be morally correct or politically desirable for aged British Citizens to be destitute on the street which would be the alternative. In fact he was working in a Russian based industry and of course was blocked from working due to government policy, so not his fault.

And yet here the poster is, offering it up. I didn’t bring it up - they did.

Don’t be so ridiculous. You brought them up as you wanted to use them as an example. I’m querying that example. Now I’m asking, you’re backtracking and painting me as ‘intrusive’. People are so used to being able to drop posts with trigger words meaning nobody can query them, but that’s exactly what we should be doing as this is debate.

Another worker receiving PIP here, worked for 28 years before being diagnosed with Parkinson’s and then another seven years after diagnosis before applying for PIP. And I’m still only 54 but if I’m really lucky I’ll be medically retired in the future and by the time I’m old enough to receive my state pension I’ll probably be tremoring in a corner somewhere.

I brought them up because these threads are always full of assumptions about PC claimants... things like they were lazy and feckless.

You questioning is not gentle. It is intrusive. And I get the feeling that whatever I say, you will not say you understand. You will just continue to put the boot in.
Go get your kicks elsewhere.

It surprises me how people get full pension credit after having worked abroad for years on end and not having paid into the system. I guess as others have said though if they insist on coming back to the Uk at state pension age we can't just leave them to starve. I work in benefits advice for the elderly and it's surprising how often this happens.

You are not entitled to another poster's family history.

And perhaps you should have the intelligence to understand that accident, disability and illness can happen to literally anyone.

And even after the 35 years of paying NI: you still need to keep paying it. I started working and paying NI on my 16th birthday. I’ve paid it ever since except a 2 month gap last year when I was made redundant and recieved a pitiful £93 a week jobseekers.

at the age of 51 I’ll have paid NI for 35 years so will be entitled to full state pension. But I STILL will be paying NI for another 16 years until my state retirement age of 67

Yes I studied it.
I still don’t concern myself with my neighbours or relatives income.

You could do, and you would then get a reduced amount of state pension plus a top up of pension credit (with the other perks). However, if you quit work just so you can get pension credit you’d also be depriving yourself of a work income before you reach pension age, so I guess you’d have to claim working age benefits.
Being on benefits is really not as amazing as many people think, the impact it has on self-worth (and obviously lifestyle) is huge.

I feel like the only people you think are ‘posting in good faith’ are those who agree with you. It’s an easy dodge. You brought them up, not me. You can’t now act all offended at some gentle questioning

My tenant was not eligible for SRP because he worked out of the UK for all his working life.

Will that make you feel better ?
Knowing that some elderly people will be struggling?
Get a grip.

No, because they are both dead and it is irrelevant. They are costing you nothing.
I do not owe you a break down of their lives. You are not asking in good faith.
You are just trying to make some point that anyone on PC must have been lazy all of their life.
I do not have the patience or the crayons to explain to you how people can become disabled at any age, and their spouse or parents end up being carers until either one of them dies.

Yes as most claiming PIP have not! Of course people don’t mean you.

Well, good job I slogged my guts out working for 25 years before my stroke then, isn't it?

Just the same as the residential care scenario where if you have a house its sold to provide you the ability to pay 2k a week for your care and the person in the next bed pays nothing, never has, never will. Same care, same facility.