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Original poster

To be shocked if this is true . State pension and benefits …?

539 replies

Springtimesoo · 01/03/2023 15:22

I have worked all my life apart from
4 year degree( 3 year plus prof qualification )
and
a period at home when I had 2 dc under two and we could not afford nursery fees.

have just checked my pension forcast Which says that although I have paid 35 years in full , i will not get a full pension .

it seems that to get a full pension i need to pay just over 3k .

my friend , who is by choice long term unemployed. ( long story) says that she will get a full pension as she is on benefits .

how is that fair ? Its not true is it ?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Triflenot · 01/03/2023 18:51

How old are you OP?
You have up to age 66 to top up, so can pay in instalments.

knittingaddict · 01/03/2023 18:51

The only benefits I've ever had was a brief couple of months on unemployment benefits 40 years ago and I don't have enough contirbutions to get the full pension.

I have no issues with people on benefits getting a full pension. It's hardly a generous amount to live on and how were they supposed to build up a pension while living on benefits? What are older people supposed to live on? Air?

Oldsu · 01/03/2023 18:53

MajorCarolDanvers · 01/03/2023 18:18

my friend , who is by choice long term unemployed. ( long story) says that she will get a full pension as she is on benefits

No she won't. She will get universal credit or whatever it's called then.

You need to pay NI credits to get a state pension.

Your friend is misinformed.

@MajorCarolDanvers actually its you who are misinformed, UC is a working age benefit and you don't pay NI credits you pay NI contributions, she will get a state pension when she reached SPA this will be based on her qualifying years and will be calculated on her NI contributions or NI credits (if she got qualifying benefits) if her state pension is lower than the new full pension she can claim pension credit which is means tested and is currently about £2 less than the new full pension,

sjxoxo · 01/03/2023 18:53

Redebs · 01/03/2023 15:31

Yes, it's not the fault of people on benefits ffs!

Hope you didn't vote Tory, because they are the ones responsible for setting pensions

Show quote history

This… the Government is at fault not other people who are also part of society. Just because you worked full time does not mean someone who has had a poorer life should be left with nothing - you should be entitled to a comfortable retirement and those in need should be provided for to some degree. Vote wisely at the next GE! X

Fifthtimelucky · 01/03/2023 18:55

I paid NI contributions for over 35 years but will not get a full pension unless I top it up. I need to work out whether that's worth doing or not.

Although someone who has been on benefits all their life will probably get a higher state pension than I will, I will not be relying on mine because my husband and I both have decent occupational pensions. I don't envy anyone having to live on a state pension alone.

Kafkascat · 01/03/2023 18:56

CriticalAlert · 01/03/2023 18:46

It is true. If you have been on benefits all your life you will get a full state pension - as pension credits. It's a bit bonkers really. But the government have to give people money in their old age. I have two tiny pensions and am just over the threshold for any benefits whatsoever. I wish to god I hadn't worked. I'd have been better off. I'm not benefit bashing, but there is something very unfair about the system.

But those people 'on benefits all their lives' (which I very much doubt) won't have had a great quality of life and will probably never be able to afford a house of their own with all the stability that brings. Are you really envious of someone like that ? Say OP, why not give up work like your friend, see how cushy it is ?

CharlotteStreetW1 · 01/03/2023 18:58

If you were contracted out, there will be a private pension pot somewhere with your name on it - that was the point.

Apologies if this has already been said.

Barold · 01/03/2023 19:00

BrigitteBond · 01/03/2023 18:47

You get 3 years of NI credits at 16, 17 and 18.

Show quote history

Oh so that now explains the 21 full (those 2 part time years were at 16 and 17) + 1 not enough (my year out). Thanks!

So now it’s adding up to 33 with the 11 more that I need to do…Still not 35 though.

Timesawastin · 01/03/2023 19:01

Tekkentime · 01/03/2023 17:01

Work doesn't pay.

Rubbish. It pays some very well indeed

BrigitteBond · 01/03/2023 19:01

CharlotteStreetW1 · 01/03/2023 18:58

If you were contracted out, there will be a private pension pot somewhere with your name on it - that was the point.

Apologies if this has already been said.

It has been said many times but it won't hurt to say it again because some people just don't seem able to understand it.

If they didn't understand that contracting out of part of their state pension in order to invest the money in a private pension necessarily meant they'd have less state pension there's probably not much hope for them.

Silvers11 · 01/03/2023 19:02

And just to add to the 'confusion' It will probably be a long long time before everyone receives the FULL New State Pension. This is because calculations are done to reach a 'starting' pension - and if you had contracted out contributions before 2016 they will be taken into account when doing that calculation. My Hubby is on the New State Pension, but it is reduced because of his contracted out status for many years

From the Government website

Valuing your National Insurance contributions and credits made before 6 April 2016
Your National Insurance record before 6 April 2016 is used to calculate your ‘starting amount’. This is part of your new State Pension.
Your starting amount will be the higher of either:
the amount you would get under the old State Pension rules (which includes basic State Pension and Additional State Pension)
the amount you would get if the new State Pension had been in place at the start of your working life
Your starting amount will include a deduction if you were contracted out of the Additional State Pension. You may have been contracted out because you were in a certain type of workplace, personal or stakeholder pension.

lindyloo57 · 01/03/2023 19:10

@ilovesooty I'm just saying he's never worked but will get a full pension even though he's been claiming benefits all his working life. And he's not disabled or ill, just lazy.

catskittens · 01/03/2023 19:19

if the circumstances stay the sane then yes they will and also have a top up of pension credit which is a gateway benefit and will entitle her to more BUT that is if she is single or if a couple the other has no private pension

if she is in local housing her total rent would be paid the problem comes if you will be in private rent as you would have to make it up

potentially true
if your on min wage its not worth paying into a pension,might be wrong but this has gone on for years and also if they need a care home the state will pay where if single and own your home you will have to sell it

basically dont work get a council house and spend any savings and let the state pay in a nut shell

Whammyyammy · 01/03/2023 19:21

catskittens

basically dont work get a council house and spend any savings and let the state pay in a nut shell

Sadly, this is true for the UK.

PrtScn · 01/03/2023 19:23

gogohmm · 01/03/2023 16:07

The rules changed in 2016 so nobody is now contracted out - but a lot of workplace pensions were based on contracted out

This. I personally contracted out into a private stakeholder pension that I still contribute to.
I figured by the time I get to retirement age there won’t be much of a pension left anyway.

I also have my works pension which is matched by my employer.

NevieSticks · 01/03/2023 19:23

Celticdawn5 · 01/03/2023 15:28

Yes, I think it will be a shock to many. I am nearly 62 and have only just qualified for a full state pension. By the time I actually receive it i’ll be too old to care.

what? In 4 or 5 years time?

Ilovetocrochet · 01/03/2023 19:24

I had to read my pension forecast very carefully to understand it! I knew that having worked as a teacher for over 25 years ( some part time though), I would not be getting the full SP at age 66 as the teachers plan was contracted out. However, when I looked at the part telling me in which years I had not paid the full contributions, it looked as if all I had to do was pay an additional amount to make up my part time years.

Yet when I read the page more carefully, it was clear that I already had enough qualifying years for the full pension ( less the contracted out amount) so paying the extra £2k would be a waste of money! Not at all clear in the info on the page.

I also read that you should phone and speak to an advisor before paying anything to check as once you pay, you cannot get it back if you paid in error! I can’t remember where I read this, possibly through the Gateway or possibly on a money expert type site.

I think the way the money info is presented is very confusing and a bit of a con!

MadameMatisse · 01/03/2023 19:25

Oldsu · 01/03/2023 18:12

Everyone's pensions are different my husband gets basic pension plus graduated retirement benefit and SERPS all of which will go up by 10.1% in April The maximum you can get with SERPS now is an extra £204.68 a week making a possible total of £360.88 (at 2023/2024 rates) graduated retirement benefit is extra, DH state pension will be just over £320 a week from April, I am on the new scheme I get the new full pension plus a protected payment for the SERPS I paid into pre 2016 both of which will have gone up by 10.1% haven't had my letter yet but I think I will get about £225 a week plus I contracted out for 5 years so I have a private pension that replaces the SERPS I lost which is £200 a month before tax

@oldsu "dh STATE PENSION WILL BE JUST OVER £320 A WEEK FROM aPRIL" is misleading. It's all his pensions together.

Ginmonkeyagain · 01/03/2023 19:29

The state pension is not calculated on how much NI you pay (otherwise higher earners would have much larger pensions) but how many years NI contributions you have made. Those on benefits (inc. Child benefit) can get NI credits as part of their claim.

The state pension is a benefit not a pension.

Moonicorn · 01/03/2023 19:29

Whammyyammy · 01/03/2023 19:21

catskittens

basically dont work get a council house and spend any savings and let the state pay in a nut shell

Sadly, this is true for the UK.

Yep. And what’s more people on MN will make excuses about why the mugs paying for it all are better off and oppressors who want to see you in a work house!

viques · 01/03/2023 19:33

Springtimesoo · 01/03/2023 15:22

I have worked all my life apart from
4 year degree( 3 year plus prof qualification )
and
a period at home when I had 2 dc under two and we could not afford nursery fees.

have just checked my pension forcast Which says that although I have paid 35 years in full , i will not get a full pension .

it seems that to get a full pension i need to pay just over 3k .

my friend , who is by choice long term unemployed. ( long story) says that she will get a full pension as she is on benefits .

how is that fair ? Its not true is it ?

But your friend will only ever get that state pension, whereas most people who have worked will also get a private pension. Living just off the basic state pension doesn’t strike me as something to be envied.

C4tastrophe · 01/03/2023 19:34

@Ilovetocrochet yes, I just took a gander. I have 30 full years, 11 where it says I have not contributed enough ( pay here £820 p/y !), but my forecast is £180 and I only need to pay one more year to get to £185.

Everyone need to understand their own position.

Moonicorn · 01/03/2023 19:35

viques · 01/03/2023 19:33

But your friend will only ever get that state pension, whereas most people who have worked will also get a private pension. Living just off the basic state pension doesn’t strike me as something to be envied.

Show quote history

What does it even matter? She’ll get pension credit. Her nursing home fees will be free; she won’t pay a dime, OP would likely have to sell her house and everything she’s worked for to pay hers and her friend’s. Private pensions now are pretty shit and hardly worth 50+ years of hard graft. I’m a bit fed up of this narrative tbh.

viques · 01/03/2023 19:36

Ps apparently if you want to boost your state pension then defer claiming it for a couple of years, it increases by something like 5% a year, so when you do start to claim you are quids in after a few years.

BrigitteBond · 01/03/2023 19:39

viques · 01/03/2023 19:36

Ps apparently if you want to boost your state pension then defer claiming it for a couple of years, it increases by something like 5% a year, so when you do start to claim you are quids in after a few years.

I take it you don't understand percentages?