To ask why JSA is virtually half State Pension per week

[Oilnwater]

I'm probably clueless and totally missing something which is why I'm on here asking for help in understanding ......
Currently a single person aged over 25 would get £73.10 per week JSA. A single person basic pension is £129.20.
Why the huge disparity? Who comes up
With the figures? Is there a formula?
It just strikes me as odd that both single people would in theory be facing the same housing / petrol / fuel (the winter fuel allowance isn't much) food, normal everyday costs. Why the huge difference?

Because pensioners are deserving of it

How can the Government get away with it? It's age discrimination is it not?

Age discrimination is sometimes legal - it enables things like cheap bus fares.

I wouldn't worry too much, in a decade or two there won't be any state pensions.

You don't get back what you paid in though. NIC pay the pensions of the currently retired, so today's retired people paid pensions in 70s, 80s, 90s etc.

People working today pay the pensions of those currently retired, which is a much larger group of people than it used to be.

But the retired vote.

Another one who finds the awful rates for carers allowance much more of a concern. People are giving up jobs to care for a loved one and being ‘paid’ a pittance for it

Because pensioners are deserving of it

What, all of them? I dislike this attitude that the entire older generation are worthier than younger ones. Just as many shirkers, criminals etc in older generations as in younger ones.

^this

I think that many young people would be expected to find some sort of work if they are fit and able .Older people however may have health issues ,and are basically seen as being "too old to work" even though quite a lot of them are still working past retirement age ! I think a fairer system would be to grade pensions /older life benefits (Heating allowances ,Bus passes and so on ) depending on income but I doubt any Government would want to do this!

I'm a waspi. Made redundant last year, still on UC at age 65. SPA late 2020. Have never voted Tory, and doubt this will change, somehow.

I dislike this attitude that the entire older generation are worthier than younger ones. Just as many shirkers, criminals etc in older generations as in younger ones.

Also a bad argument because people funding pensions today definitely won't be able to access a state pension at 65 and it won't be because they are less deserving.

winter fuel allowance, which funds her annual holiday abroad with her friends in similar positions

I’d love to know where she’s going, let us in on the secret of where you can get a foreign holiday for £200.

JSA is lower because it's supposedly there to stop you dying of starvation before you find another job, the pension is more to make your life tolerable, convince you that you're worth more than the average jobseeker and ensure you survive longterm to continue to vote.

Because JSA is a temporary “tide you over on the absolute basics while you find another job” benefit.

Old age pension on the other hand is an entitlement paid to people who have paid National Insurance for 35 years in return for a pension that keeps them through their old age. They can’t get a job, they can’t retrain.

It needs to keep people warm who are home all day, are frail or in ill health.

All I can say is most of you must not live in a deprived area and see how the system is getting abused. I live in one of the poorest areas in the UK and the way people scam the benefit system is unbelievable. There's a high proportion of people claiming JSA/universal credit and still working cash in hand and literally reaping the benefits. Full rent paid, no council tax, free school meals etc and that's without the ones who are saying they are living alone but in reality have a partner. JSA should be kept low because it's so annoying when you are working 40 hours a week and still not living the life that the unemployed are and before anyone starts I'm not a daily mail reader or any tabloid newspaper, this is what I see with my own eyes. When I was unfortunate enough to be made redundant a few years back I had a few people giving me tips how to maximise my benefits claim and get around the system, luckily enough I was only out of work two weeks before I found another job so didn't have to claim. I'm proof that there are jobs out there if you want to work, as I've previously said I live in a poor area and I've never had trouble getting a job, the sad reality is that the do gooders can't see that there are people out there with no intentions of ever working and letting everyone else prop up their lifestyle. Benefits shouldn't be a long term career, they should be there as an emergency for people who need the support.

Benefit fraud is very very low.
I work at Citizens Advice and it is a tiny tiny proportion of the people we see and help with benefits.
There are just as many if not more people who are not claiming the benefits they are entitled to.

I’m sure I read that the amount of unclaimed benefits is substantially higher than those claimed fraudulently. The majority of pensioner benefits are unclaimed.

Plenty of people get made redundant before 2 years of service (I was)
Of course plenty will be made redundant under 2 years but the majority will have more and with holiday pay due, it can usually stretch a few weeks.

But even more reason to save about each month for the eventuality of losing one job.

To be fair I don’t think JSA was ever particularly high.

What corduroyal said.

It's amazing how people have ducked and dived for decades, then they pass a certain birthday and all of a sudden they become respectable and their previous non-contribution to society is airbrushed into "working hard all their lives". As a bonus they can now look down upon the feckless unemployed/underemployed, being now no longer of that number.

Let's make no mistake though, the state pension itself is no fortune. I'm staring down the barrel of it myself in a very few years and can only envisage actually living on it in any bearable sense because I have an occupational pension on the top. People who don't have one, or thought they had one but their boss has spent the fund on yachts (how the fuck is that even possible? but apparently it is), are not going to be tremendously comfortable, especially if they aren't in the happy position of having paid off a mortgage. I'm only in that happy position myself due to a legacy back when properties were cheaper - I'm very well aware I'm extremely lucky.

JSA should be set at the minimum wage or just very slightly below it.

... will be in that happy etc by the time I'm due to retire, that is - got about 3 years' worth to pay off still. If my leg falls off next week I could still be in deep shit, savings notwithstanding.

Because the retired vote in great numbers. That's all. A retired person could easily have paid in much less than someone currently on JSA, particularly as plenty of income based benefits actually include NI contributions being counted as made while you're on them.

Don’t blame the Tories. Labour didn’t increase it either

JSA should be set at the minimum wage or just very slightly below it

Then what incentive would there be to work?

JSA should be set at the minimum wage or just very slightly below it.

Yeah. That would work. I could so many people working for low pay in a shit job when the alternative is similar pay for doing nothing