When will people realise that pensioners have paid for their state pension.

[notsafeanymore]

Every time there is a debate about the cost of living pensioners get a bashing.
And some have also paid for a private pension.
It's people who have never worked that should be targeted first.
I'm not on about the disabled. It's people who are benefit cheats and have never worked.

Yes but I was answering a post that implied it's something we should work towards rather than something we have.

No you don’t. One of my relatives gets the full amount.

I filled in the form on line, 2 days later he had the full amount, no questions asked.

I have zero guilt about applying for it too. I’m sick of paying for everyone else, and as far as I am concerned I just got a refund of £480 a month, via my loved one.

Absolutely. I've helped with hundreds of AA forms. It's doled out very easily. I'm trying to persuade my 88 year old dad to claim but of course he won't as he is of the generation that won't take anything. Like you I've worked for 40 years and absolutely sick of seeing what others get so easily.

Grossly overpaid? The state pension is lower than minimum wage.

You were talking about unfunded public sector schemes. I'm giving examples of unfunded schemes. I also added that local government schemes are funded, just to prevent further discourse about its funding. If you are unhappy with unfunded schemes then which would you like to change?

What do others get so easily? Disability?

Today's pensioners would also include 'benefit scroungers' or whatever charming term you want to use. I really don't know why it's used as some kind of notifier of worthiness 🤷‍♀️

That’s another inequality. There aren’t enough social housing properties now.
My single mum managed to buy her own nice little three bedroom house in 1970. She worked but had a low to average wage. Who can do that now?

The state pension is currently over £12,000 a year. The current state pensioners will receive it for 20 plus years having been able to claim from 60 in many cases.

I highly doubt there's many people who have paid the equivalent of £240,000 tax in their lifetime once other things paid for taxes are also accounted for (NHS, child benefit etc).

I had the same discussion with my mum recently. Of course many current pensioners worked hard, but let's not pretend working 35 years on the equivalent of 30k a year means you paid in enough to cover a 12k income for life. Most ppl are not net contributors, pensioners or otherwise. And that's before explaining that you pay in for current pensioners not your own pension as already explained.

The biggest growth in disability benefits is claims from older teenagers relating to ADHD and mental health issues. Apparently.

But that being the case, aren’t today’s pensioners just as entitled to their pensions as the previous generations they supported ?

Pensions stopped being paid at age 60 in 2010. For women. Men always had to wait until 65. But that changed too.

Maybe but what can you do? People can’t work forever. I don’t want 80 year olds packing my supermarket bags.

Thatcher left a dreadful legacy. Shame subsequent government of all colours failed to fix housing.

No they all haven’t, have you just hopped on the thread or something?

Is it really that hard to do the maths?

An average salary of 35k pays less than 2k NI

White goods may have been more expensive but they lasted so much longer and could be repaired. I remember mum having the same washing machine for 20 years. I’ve replaced a fridge freezer after just about 7 years, and a chest freezer after about the same. My washing machine didn’t last 7yrs.

Their carpet lasted decades- 45 years, some of it. The sofa lasted 55, but shouldn’t have 🫣

Very few people have been paying for their state pension. NIC IS A TAX, plain and simple. The ONLY people who've been "paying in" are a tiny number of people paying voluntary class 3 NICs (i.e. the "stamp") to make up missing years where there is a clearly defined link between making additional class 3 NIC contributions and an increased state pension.

The vast majority of people have paid nowhere near enough NIC during their working lives to build up some kind of mythical "fund" to finance their state pension in retirement.

Exactly, but you can say it till you’re blue in the face, some just cannot acknowledge it.

What do you think auto-enrolment is?

All these people gunning for people not to get a state pension. It is madness.
It was created for a good reason. People could not survive without it.
We have to find a solution to the public purse.
Removing a state pension for people present and future is not it. And it saddens me that so many people are so very keen to do so.

30 odd years ago, in Singapore, elderly people were employed in low effort jobs. The most visible of them being light cleaning in shopping centres. They basically pottered around in air con, wiping and dusting every surface in literally slow machine. On their feet all day though.

But it's what the voters wanted. They voted for Maggie's policies. Huge numbers of council tenants did VERY well out of her by being able to buy their houses for massive discounts and then sell on for a huge profit. Same with all the privatisations etc - all voted for by the public in the GE's she won with voters salivating at the thoughts of the windfall profits they'd make from privatisations and demutualisations.

In the 60s there were 5 workers to 1 pensioner and now it’s 3:1 and as pp said will be 2:1 pretty soon.

Something not to aspire to.

Means testing it and removing it from the wealthiest pensioners who don't need it would be a very good start at dealing with the problem.