The state pension is HOW MUCH???

[BeatieBourke]

Call me stupid (fair) but I've just realised how much the state pension is. £800 odd a month (£185.15pw).

As a non-means tested benefit. For EVERYONE.

I'm generally of the opinion that benefits are too low and too punitive. I usually advocate for universalism. I understand that people have worked their whole lives and paid in, and deserve a retirement. And that having pensioners in poverty does no favours to the economy or other welfare services.

But £800 a month / £9k a year for EVERYONE?? So a widower in rented accommodation with no other income or savings, £800pm. A wealthy 68 year old who's earned a 6 figure salary, has a huge property portfolio and investments coming out of their ears that pay a fortune out in dividends, £800pm. Seriously?

I understand that no party, least of all the Tories (because tory voters as a population are older) will ever go after pensions because it would be unpopular (and older people vote more generally). But in a time when the country is supposedly facing a financial "black hole" and everything else has already been cut to the bone for the last 12 years, why the hell are we paying out state benefits to millionaires?

Maybe if pensions were means tested (with a fairly high and tapering threshold) there'd be enough to pay pensions for women at 65, and more for people who haven't built up huge assets, can't afford to live, heat their homes or eat a hot meal every day in their later years. I can see the (cynical) political sense in it, but no economic sense whatsoever.

AIBU?

Hmm that would be the pensioners receiving a pension after all their years of contributions. Do you want them working? Oh, hang on no, they would be taking jobs the young should have. Or would they?

Jesus. Round and round in bloody circles. Simply, the older generation who have paid in, are getting something back.

Seems fair to me

Is this Tory bingo or something?

you do still pay in self employed

@TheNosehasit

youndo realise they have paid into the pension pot. They're entitled to the the state pension. It's not 'need' based.

Well said! This 👆a thousand times.

People do what makes financial sense.
If they are screwed over by the government on state pensions, then they will not save in private pensions.
People can fuck off with making this a moral issue. So many MPs and top bosses have milked government funds for themselves. I am not a mug.
And if this is such a big issue, why did the government increase the state pension for younger people? They have put it up.

Oh for god's sake.

If this policy is brought in, forget about ordinary people having private pensions because it would make zero sense. Also makes zero sense to save.

For some reason it cut the rest of my post which was:

Oh for god's sake. That is the government's fault and a prime example of how cutting staff just ends up costing more money.

That £2.5bn is not going to solve every problem. And every country is paying for refugee support.

We shouldn't have fucking Brexited then we wouldn't be skint and wouldn;t be out here on our own with no help from France.

I’d like to clarify about disability benefits. Unless you claimed DLA/PIP before you reached pension age you are not eligible to claim it after retirement. There’s no entitlement to any mobility allowance after pension age. You don’t get AA for being old. The threshold is quite high, you have to need significant help with personal care. NI was originally completely separate from the tax system. It was conceived as paying insurance against sickness and unemployment and towards a pension. Better off people paid more so it was redistribute and also the retirement pension is taxed. If I had thought it was going to be means tested I wouldn’t have bothered paying into my NHS private pension, there would have been no point.

Some incorrect info about pension credit. It very much is still a benefit people over state pension age can claim (the info you link to is about mixed age couples). Also there are circumstances where someone getting a full state pension can get pension credit - for example where a carer premium and/or severe disability premium applies.

The state b pension is not a benefit like universal credit, it’s an entitlement. If you have other income it will be taxed. If you’re renting there won’t be a lot left out of £800pm.

No it's not for everyone.

Since the flat rate state pension was introduced in 2016, if you were ever contracted out paying into a private/workplace pension, quite heavy deductions are made.

I have only been claiming the state pension for just over 6 months and I receive almost £200 per month less than that despite having 45 years of paying into the system.

Hardly anyone receives the full amount unless they have claimed benefits most of their life or have no other pension.

Also forget about there being popular support for NI payments. The only sane answer would be to go full IEA or do as others suggest and spend like mad to ensure you a) have fun and b) qualify for the shitty safety net pension.

If they bring it in, cash in your NHS pension and have some amazing holidays and fun times.

That would be because the 'pot' of money those people have been paying into their entire lives in good faith has already been spent on older people.

Are you saying because someone else spent the money when they worked & paid in, they should also sit in a hole & die so you don't have to pay for them?

I'm with you. Been throwing money in to a private pension since 18 (now in my 50s). I will take as much out as possible if my state pension gets nipped away, the goalposts have already moved so I fully expect them to move again even if the goalposts don't completely disappear....

I am a pensioner. I receive the state pension.

I don't get anywhere near £800/month.

Where have you got your figures from?

why do you think we need to impoverish children and take away healthcare before we can possibly stop giving money to rich Tory voters? Are you really so self interested?

Exactly. My state pension estimate is way less even though I will have been working since I was 16 years old, nearly all of it full time. But I have paid into a private pension. You did not used to get hammered for the state pension because of this, you do now.

This. YABU

And means testing it would likely cost more than it would save.

I am in favour of a Universal Basic Income though, for everyone.

Hear, hear!

Me neither!

My private pensions aren't huge either.☹️

The pensions would have to be completely unhitched from the NI system to be meddled with in any meaningful way. And though the current workforce are paying the pensions of those in their 70s and above, they all in their turn paid the pensions of those that came before them. To break in to the system and not have those who have paid in for many years feel aggrieved you'd have to have a huge time lag - and if you stopped those in their 20s paying NI then who would pay for the pensions of those older than them? It is an almost impossible situation to get out of of.

The fact it is taxed is key. So higher rate tax payers in effect lose a large proportion. Those on just the pension will keep the full amount if they have the full years NI.

We can have an amazing time. Luxury family holidays, expensive meals out, etc. I would call it my fuck it plan.