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.

Absolutely agreed. Same here at 65 having never claimed any benefit’s including maternity

Then watch the threshold get lowered to such an extent it is worthless. And doing so takes away the principle that it is something people have paid into. And will be paid to them.
Once you take away that principle understanding, it creates a society that is less stable. More volatile. Less nice to be in.
This is not the answer to the miserable question asked from the outset.

So how did they do it as neither would be getting the state pension?

Ex benefits advisor and disability support worker here. What’s his disability though if you don’t mind saying ? It’s wrong to say AA is awarded easily. It isn’t awarded just for being elderly. You need to have a long-term physical or mental illness or disability which has necessitated help with your personal care (for example, washing and dressing), or supervision to keep you safe, for at least six months before claiming. It’s stringently assessed and differentiates between the normal effects of aging and an actual health condition. The former cannot normally be claimed for unless it meets the thresholds for care.

From a personal point of view my own mum had dementia and we had to provide substantial evidence with the claim for AA - even then she was turned down first time, and again on application for the enhanced rate as her condition worsened and she required care through the night. As with the application process for other disability benefits, not everyone’s experience is the same and the outcome doesn’t depend on what the actual disability is, but how it affects the claimant day to day.

It's not just the size of the population either it's the size of the working population. The job market has changed so much that a lot of younger people aren't working or not earning what they used to. Not always their fault. Health care progression means more elderly are having procedures they wouldn't in the past either. Very hard problem to balance. Raising pension age just means less jobs for the young, not raising it means more expense too.

You make it sound like maternity leave isn't needed.

@Furimosa
agree. The level of ni paid in, past and present, will not equal that paid out even allowing for potential investments along the way

Maybe through child benefit / universal credit , as NI credits?

What has that got to do with my post?

Some benefits provide NI contributions. I had a few people on my caseload who hadn’t worked for twenty years after becoming permanently disabled. Because they had worked and were entitled to contribution based sickness benefits, the remainder of their NI contributions were made and they were eventually entitled to full state pension.

So please enlighten us as to what IS the answer?

You’re the one who claimed childcare is free, it isn’t. Perhaps if you were a bunny you could understand more 😆

Just scrap NIC and raise income tax instead. Then there's no "misunderstanding" about what NIC is used for. The reality is that IT IS just another tax, so let's call it tax.

Perfectly put

I was replying to the orginal post that we need free education.

I know several people claiming full state pension after having worked and paid NI for less than 5 years. The other years were made up from NI credits as you can get them from different benefits, eg child benefit, UC, ESA, JSA, carers allowance. It's quite possible to have all of your state pension entitlement made through having been on the right benefits for decades and not doing any work at all.

I”m a boomer. I doubt the government will get much ‘wealth tax’ from my modest 3 bed semi. Especially not after social care have finished ‘taxing’ it should I need care in later life. Please don’t lump us all together - we’re not all the greedy, grabbing shitbags MN likes to paint us as.

Thank you. That's good though.

I did benefit advice for a while and there wasn't a single client that I wanted to swap places with, even the ones who got more money a month than I did.

There but for the grace.

Great post. Totally agree with what you are saying.

When will people realise that the state pension is a benefit and takes up the majority of welfare spending, and stop blaming benefits on everything! Why not complain about billionaires and trillionaires who have no positive impact in society and proportionately pay less taxes then you or I after they have use tax loopholes and obfuscated their income.

The person with the cheap skate employer who is payed the minimum wage, and needs UC top ups but who gives their spare time to running food banks and guiding/scouting groups is worth a thousand of Bezos/Trump/Musk/Farage et al.

You are getting A BENEFIT, which is what free childcare hours is.

And yet people seem to have no issue with this but resent those of us who have worked hard and saved and contributed for decades getting a state pension. It makes no sense.

Same place as you I guess! Doesn’t change the maths though

Arithmetic!

Same. I'm fed up of being punished for being careful