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?

And we’ve paid for two previous generations’ pensions. As well as Gen X, Y and millennials’ education and child benefit. We’re also current tax payers. I’d expect to see a significant uplift in pensioners’ tax threshold if state pensions were means tested.

Exactly. People think they can chip away at what "rich people" get in one area of the welfare state, and it'll never affect them. But the reality is that once one thing has been removed, it becomes easier to remove others. Each chip makes the next chip less controversial.

People are fucking yourselves over in the long run, but are blinded by anger at the fact that someone has got something they don't think they 'deserve'. But in the end, they'll also be judged undeserving, and they won't have anyone left to defend them.

I know a fair few who had the same happen - they would have been better off not contracting out.

The maximum weekly state pension is
£141 in the UK,
£507 in Germany,
£304 in France,
and £513 in Spain.

Exactly.

It's also a bit like a car insurance company telling you that after paying insurance for 40 years, you won't get a payout because you can afford to pay for repairs.

Maximum state pension in the UK is £185 a week. I haven’t checked the other figures but they might also be incorrect.

Not that anyone is still reading, but what an ignorant post!

The UK state pension is one of the stingiest in the developed world.

A person who only has the state pension is living well below the poverty line, and would be eligible for welfare.

The state pension is income, and is taxed. So someone with significantly more than the basic state pension will be taxed on all income, including the pension.

Means testing is expensive and inefficient. It is also a well researched fact that means testing significantly reduces the number of claimants - which, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn, disproportionately affects the elderly and the poor. Really great idea, then, to means test state pension, isn’t it?

A better question is why are we caring for the elderly so badly that after working and paying in for a minimum of 35 years, they still need to rely on welfare in order to heat their homes or eat a hot meal?

The question is not why it is so much, but why it is so little?

It is not! It is increasing to £185, it is not currently that amount.

Lucky you. I worked in the private sector and didn't get ANY pension until I was 66.

@MsPincher Where does all the money come from? If the money is going to rich pensioners it’s not going to somewhere else it’s desperately needed.
who gets to define 'desperately needed' are you wanting to go down the route of only desperate needs are met? So as long as people have a roof over their head and a warm room and 3 meals a day (doesn't matter what they are] that's all they need? Or from what I've picked up you are quite hot on 'othering' people and allocating their savings and income? How very dare people work hard and for years and not be oh so happy and engaged to be taxed more and receive nothing!

Good analogy @Jaxhog but also a bit like getting told that the person who damaged your car has never had car insurance and so you're also going to get billed for their repair too thanks. ...

It’s an excellent analogy.

Think you misunderstood - my boat is that I still work in the private sector and am paying into a private pension which I'll have to pay more tax on, pitiful though it is. I may have to "retire" on health grounds so there won't be much more being added to the pot.

If you're in the private sector, like me, you can start to take from your pension when you hit 58 (although don't quote me as I've never even looked into it and don't know the fine details). From your comment, have you been retired for a while?

I've paid in for 42 years and it's still not enough for me to get a full pension.

Imagine if the company pension scheme you paid into for 42 years suddenly decided not to pay it because you didn't deserve it.

It's more than I earn in a week - plus they get free bus and winter fuel payments.... wonder if we will get such royalties when the retirement age ever reaches us

It’s 16.6 hours at minimum wage.

This whole discussion is absolutely futile, as others have said no political party would make a change to pensions, there’s too many of them and they actually get their arse out into gear and vote.

Look at the absolute outcry caused by trashing the stock market ie pensions versus potentially crashing the housing market.

If you want to even things up a little bit the best thing you can do is get out there and vote next time. Poor Doris in a two bedroom terrace is always going to be safe.

Yeah someone who works 5 hours a week complains state pension is more than they earn. ;)

If you don't work many hours, what are you expecting?

So equally if we’re going to use that analogy is it okay if the insurance company turns round and says we’re not gonna pay for any more of your repairs once you’ve used up your allocation so you can either have it in pension or you can have it in NHS treatment/social care but you can’t have both?

because actually they do say that regularly they run the numbers through the actuary and decide whether a car is viable or whether it should be scrapped.

I would imagine the majority of people claim it regardless of wealth….it’s like a rite of passage

you obviously not working full time then

We are talking about human beings, not cars.
You are suggesting - oh you were a premature baby and the NHS spent loads of money to save your life. Sorry none left for you when you are older.

And therefore you cannot use the analogy of car insurance can you because it totally irrelevant.

You must have been contracted out by your company for some years? That happened to my partner…he’s local authority so public sector but was contracted out for 11 years…..he’s still on track for a full pension but it could have been made a difference to some people