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Original poster

State Pension -V- Pension Credit - only £3 difference!

56 replies

hoarderofthedough · 15/08/2026 12:19

Why do the Government spend money monitoring and recording whether people have paid enough to receive a full State Pension (at £241 per week), when people who have paid no stamps at all get Pension Credit (of £238 per week). What's the point? May as well just pay everyone £238 per week and stop recording who has paid what.

As someone who has paid my full stamp - and I am still paying, as I have now been working for 40 years, honestly I'm a bit miffed that someone who has never wored will only get £3 less a week than me. Where's the incentive?

OP posts:
venmor · 15/08/2026 12:56

It’s not a race to the bottom. Perhaps be pleased you have a state pension and drop the bitterness and stampy feet ‘it’s not fair’ attitude towards others. It’s a really ugly trait.

Ginmonkeyagain · 15/08/2026 12:50

NI does not just pay for the state pension. It's just a tax.

And very specifically the amount you pay has fuck all to do with your state pension..

Original poster
hoarderofthedough · 15/08/2026 12:44

Nourishinghandcream · 15/08/2026 12:40

I stand to be corrected here but if you haven't earned the full SP and instead get PC, aren't these dependant on you not having savings/income above a certain level?????

If you have the full SP, you can have any amount in savings/income and STILL receive the SP.

Google says : the amount of savings you have will affect how much you receive:

  • Up to £10,000: If you have £10,000 or less in savings, investments, and capital, it is completely ignored and will not affect your Pension Credit.
  • Over £10,000: For every £500 (or part of £500) you have over £10,000, it counts as £1 of weekly income. This is known as "tariff income." For example, if you have £11,000 in savings, it will be treated as generating an extra £2 of income per week.

So yeah, you can have savings, and have never worked and still get PC that's almost the same as someone who has paid NI for 50+ years. 😵

OP posts:
Ifailed · 15/08/2026 12:41

It annoys me OP. I HAD to pay 11% of my salary into NI, yet people who claim to be self-employed paid nothing and can still effectively get the full pension

Nourishinghandcream · 15/08/2026 12:40

I stand to be corrected here but if you haven't earned the full SP and instead get PC, aren't these dependant on you not having savings/income above a certain level?????

If you have the full SP, you can have any amount in savings/income and STILL receive the SP.

Ginmonkeyagain · 15/08/2026 12:35

But ..... you don't need to work all your life to get the state pension. People on benefits and stay at.home parents get NI credits that count as working years for the purposes of the state pension.

Also the truth is actually pretty close to what you describe. The amount you get for state pension is not really related to the amout of NI you paid at all (if it was, many many people would be getting a lot less than £241 per week). You just need to ave paid NI (no matter hown ittle) for a set number of years. That includes people who get NI credits from the state.

If it makes you feel better YOU adod not pay anything for your state pension, that is being paid by current workers (you paid for the generations above you).

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