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.

Yep. One of many. Brings out the very best of MN don’t you think ?

Yep. And given that this is how state pension works, why do today’s pensioners not deserve theirs after paying for those who came before ?

Yes we also had to put a 15% deposit and they’d only give it for 20 years because of the age of the house. I think. (Long time ago!) It took a lot of effort to afford to pay the mortgage and other bills each month. Definitely no luxuries, or even a washing machine (I hated going to the bendix each week with all the washing 🤣).

Nope. It’s the social contract. Not a delusion. You pay into the system via NI for a certain number of years and you receive a state pension. The amount of contributions you need for a full pension are stated clearly and the provision exists to buy back up to six years if you’re short.

I’m wondering if those like your FIL are in certain professions to have had such generous pensions. Is his pension final salary? I don’t know anyone who has or had such a pension. Not disbelieving you but I honestly don’t think those sorts of pensions were offered to “ordinary workers” in plain old jobs.

My dad has a very generous final salary pension scheme and he worked as a professor, so was obviously in the industry that paid these.

I don't think anyone else I know had the same type of pension, but then I don't know many other retired professors! 😄😅

Agree. This is what really gets up my nose. Boomers are apparently the root of all evil in society. When we moved into our first home in 1980 we were skint. We moved in with a couple of deck chairs to sit on, a basic table and two chairs, and a gas fire, a bed and a wardrobe. The kitchen was basic and tiny with no appliances - we had to provide those ourselves. The mortgage provider wouldn’t cover the cost of a new build with central heating so it was what it was.

We had no carpets or curtains until we had saved for them because you couldn’t get credit as ridiculously easy as you can these days. I remember taking every bit of overtime and my DH having two extra jobs so we could make ends meet. I’m not suggesting that today’s young people don’t have it hard, but everything is proportional to its time. Something that MN tends to forget in it’s hatred of boomers.

BBC !!

Yep I can identify with a lot of your experience. It was just expected and normal to have no money when you were new home owners so it wasn’t something to really complain about. I would have quite liked to go on holiday though!

UK university professor definitely would have public sector excellent final salary pension!

So you’d begrudge mums claiming maternity allowance, disabled people unable to work and those who are carers - and saving the tax payer a small fortune in social care fees? Really ?

If you look back over the thread you’ll see
dependant on personal savings
and any other pension etc income
If they aren’t receiving the full state pension because they haven’t paid in for enough years they then get pension credit
This tops up to within £3 a week of the full state pension
Then they get free eye tests and all sorts of other stuff inc the winter fuel allowance
Which means whilst they get £156/year less than the full state pension they end up with far more financially with all the pc extras

This. Well said.

Depends on why they haven’t paid in though doesn’t it ?

it doesn’t matter how we vote, why do you think auto enrollment into workplace pension is a thing? I don’t expect to ever get a state pension

You're either a bit dim or very bored

How did pensioners do that? Market forces, politics, the economy etc is not decided upon by some committee of pensioners...

No - but many of their generation worked for companies like the one I joined in the mid-90s, benefitting from things like final salary pensions, a staff mortgage subsidy, free lunches in the staff canteen, and even an extra week’s holiday in the year(s) you married! All of which had been taken away from new starters by the time I joined - by the very people who had made the absolute most of all those benefits for years.

They consistently voted for governments who promised to coddle their demographic and punish other people.

I agree. There is absolutely no good reason why people above state pension age should not pay National Insurance. Anyone who has sufficient income to attract income tax should also be paying NI.

Of course, better still would be for the government to abolish NI as a separate tax for individuals and just include it in income tax.

What do you class as “work”

Sure. But they don’t pay money into the state to draw a pension no matter valuable their contribution.

There are people in receipt of the new state pension of £12,000 a year who received it as young as 63, not many ppl but nonetheless ppl could easily receive it 20 years including those who only receive it at 66 or 67.

I'm not making anything up to say ppl could receive up to £240,000 from pension income in their lifetime. That's entirely possible under new or old pension.

The old state pension is a max of £9600 from what I've read. If people have received that from 60, while it may not make 240k, it's highly likely it that it will reach a point where the pension income far exceeds what they've paid into the system. That's before you even consider other payments and services. Most ppl receiving any kind of pension have probably got the tax they paid back within just a few years of receipt of pension

Most ppl are not net contributors, pensioners or otherwise as I said previously. My maths may not be perfect but the point is entirely valid - in direct response to the OP, most pensioners haven't paid for their state pension, same way most tax payers haven't paid for the services they use.

Not sure being obtuse to miss the overall argument I'm making helps your point either.

@Scotiasdarling it's behind a paywall but if you're interested, if you live beyond 73 to 76, you are likely to receive more than youve paid in according to this

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/state-pensions/revealed-how-long-to-live-make-profit-state-pension/&ved=2ahUKEwiAr9THwJSVAxX6VUEAHXysOyEQFnoECF8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw3curTefnVgxOmQUE1DBGeN