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?

@MsPincher but then why should they pay NI
To cover other peoples pensions , can you at least get back what you paid in
Why bother saving for a private pension if you loose your state, no need to bother
Also anyone who has a decent private pension will still be paying taxes which is used to fund many other benefits
This really isn't the thing we should be advocating to loose and I know many poorer pensioners than rich ones

That didn’t happen. State pension age was not moved for 3 years for anyone, 2 years prior to retirement. It’s not true

It happened to all 300,000 of us WASPI women. There’s plenty of evidence of it. It’s absolutely true and it’s why we’re so bloody angry.

The idea is to keep the SP at a piss-poor level so that private provision looks attractive. The former is easy and is exactly what the government will do. Regulating private pensions? Not so much.

Tanith I worked for HMRC & in the 1980's worked in a department that dealt solely with one of the largest occupational pension schemes in the country. During the winter we were getting a couple of large shoe box size boxes of P45's for pensioners who had died, many when we received the death certificate had hyperthermia or malnutrition as one of the causes of death.

Why should women retire earlier than men? I don't understand this logic if men and women are treated as equals in the workplace? As someone else commented life expectancy is also higher for women so shouldn't it be men retiring earlier than women? Plus if women took time out for children a few more years of work for women paying tax in would balance things out (I'm a woman).

Some of us have been “hit” for a SECOND time – when in 2011 further increases to our state pension age were brought in faster than the Coalition had promised – again with little or no notice to re-plan for our retirement.

Women of a similar age have to wait disproportionately longer for their pension – a ONE year difference in birthday can make an almost THREE year difference to state pension age.

www.waspi.co.uk/background-information/

NI is a tax like other taxes. It goes to the treasury. We need it to pay for nhs etc.

i would think that pension savings may be compulsory. Anyway regardless of who you know, pensioners are by far the wealthiest demographic. Why should they be exempt from cuts when they are best placed to cope with them? Why attack the poor and leave the rich with plenty?

@MsPincher women of a certain age had the goalposts moved massively , my mum only had a couple years notice she is 66 soon and gets pension then at 57 she thought she would get it at 60
She is still working now , struggling as she needs a new knew etc but cannot afford to live without a job
Why can't people leave the pensions alone , hopefully we all will get one and regardless if the current ni helps pay for now and future generations pay for ours , its is a contribution scheme and something we pay towards
MUmsnet has a real issue with pensions and some seem quite ill informed

They don't. Ages have been equalised.

This will not affect current pensioners. It will affect people like me in my fifties. Although I will just spend all my savings and private pension and rely totally on the state if this happens.

@MsPincher why attack anyone and you do realise if wealthy they will pay tax still you know ? More than someone who has claimed benefits half their life , how is that fair
Ni is not just for nhs its also a contribution to getting a pension , hence why you have to pay in x amount of years to receive the full amount
My mum won't get the full amount and she won't get pension credits either as my df gets a pension and they have a small amount of savings

Not sure what you mean by this ? Pension credits have not been stopped, I helped someone to apply today !

Because higher earning people pay to receive that pension, in addition to paying towards others' as well.

@antelopevalley exactly what incentive to have a private pension if people who don't bother get the same or more
The £70 a month i put towards my pension would go a long way to helping pay my electric at the moment and if im going to get penalised for saving then I may as well have that cash now

Unlikely for a civil servant, but there are public sector workers in the military and judiciary that easily enjoy that level of pension.

I don't think that's correct. You will be eligible for the full amount if you have the required number of years of NI contributions and if you were never contracted out of SERPS/S2P.

If you paid into a private pension but remained contracted into SERPS/S2P then it will not affect your state pension and you will get the full amount, providing you have the required number of NI years.

The reason people receive less if they were contracted out of SERPS/S2P is because when contracted out they paid less NI in return for sacrificing their entitlement to additional earnings-related state pension under those schemes.

I've had a pension fund (originally a stakeholder pension, later converted to a SIPP) since 2001. I have never been contracted out and my state pension forecast is £185 per week.

Absolute rubbish. Even the actual waspi campaign is based on the alleged lack of personal letters - the change in age entitlement was all over the news and media. The court found no lack of notice nor was any required.

If you lived in a bubble you may not have known about the change to state pension age but don’t depend on getting government benefits if you haven’t checked you’re eligible! That’s common sense.

Oh stop with your virtue signalling it’s getting embarrassing now, I bet once you are at pension age you will be the first in the queue despite trying to tell everyone how shiny your halo is on here.

@MsPincher aren't you lovely
Many didn't know and it was changed with not that much notice to make provisions and make changes for the future
Your advocating just making people poorer all round .
Why would people bother loosing money now in a private pension as well as pay NI if they get no state pension
All bullshit about it being a tax we know how it works but its also always been you pay NI to qualify for a state pension
If they means test pensions then fuck it i will cancel my private work pension because why should i go without today and again in the future
Rich pensioners also would still be paying tax , still contributing
Just leave pensions alone you may need yours one day too

NI is just the same as income tax as I’ve already said. It just goes to the treasury like all other taxes. It’s not for the nhs or anything else

i do know wealthy people pay tax, yes. That’s not a reason to pay some wealthy people a big chunk of public money.

It isn’t rubbish. The goalposts were changed twice. My retirement date was changed twice. The second time with two years’ notice. In 1996 my retirement age was increased to 61 and a few months. In 2012 it was increased again to 64 and three months - two years before I was 61.

@MsPincher don't take yours then or donate to charity but don't dictate what others should do
If you have savings now lets tax them heavily as I mean why should you have savings And I don't
I work hard and its unfair you can save and are richer than me so I think we should introduce a large tax on savings over £5000 as anyone who has more is rich and its only fair they pay more

Ive already said I would lose our significantly from means testing state pensions. But our public services desperately need money and stopping giving money to the rich is the fairest way to cut.

@MsPincher its a tax yes but goverment could if had pots if they wanted but NI contributions go towards your pension that is a fact or are you disputing that ?
Someone who has paid in 25 years won't get the same pension as someone who has paid in 30 years etc , so your ni contributions are taken into account so its not treated the same as income tax
It was introduced to cover pensions and ni
Otherwise we could just have a basic tax rate of 32% its kept separate for a reason even if it goes to same pot overall