Pension credit getter than state pension

[Asosbabe]

£218.50 pension credit a week plus £300 winter fuel payment works out more than full state pension £221.20. AIBU to think it should be means tested properly if they're going to do it. Someone who has paid national insuance for 35 years will be worse off than someone who hasn't paid in at all

My MiL is on PC. She pays no council tax, gets free dentistry from her NHS dentist and has recently been awarded £150 from her council from the local government hardship fund. Some of her friends are also in the same situation. She also gets a free TV licence as she is 82. It's just not right that people who only have their full state pension are worse off. MiL only paid small married woman's stamp (NIC's) for years while others paid full NIC's. Now she'll be better off than they will. That is clearly wrong.

My mother is screwed, she's about a fiver a week over for credits, so gets nothing. Pays for everything that friends who never worked or paid into a pension get for free.
However she is of the generation that were stopped from working once they married and if they worked they paid a married woman amount in NI, she was too headstrong to stop and worked her whole life till she was nearly 70. Only good thing about that was it meant she wasn't on the old pension amount she'd have been on if she stopped at 60 like her friends and she'd paid a full NI amount.

These anomolies will surely start to fade away with the pension reforms and the fact things like the married women's stamp no longer exists.

I mean you could link the amount of state pension to tax contribitions, but I am not sure people would be keen on the unintended consequences of that.

Why this is an issue? You only get pension credit if your overall income is below a certain level. Most people with their own occupational or private pension will receive more than the cut off levels for receiving pension credit. The moaning about getting less than others ignores the fact that many women have reduced contributions due to years of part time work, childcare and caring responsibilities. On top of that, their husband is likely to die before they do which makes those lesser contributions more of a problem if their husband’s better pension died with him. It’s only right that those who have enough in the bank to support themselves do so, surely?

A sign of a civilised society is how it supports its most vulnerable people. Given the threads on here in recent months which demand older people give up their bigger properties in favour of young families, the general anti-anyone aged over 50, I guess we can no longer call ourselves civilised.

Shocked by yesterdays announcement and how much it lacks an understanding of the way in which so many pensioners are living today.

Living on a basic State pension is tough. The Winter Fuel allowance might be candyfloss for some pensioners but for others it is truly the difference between heating and eating.

Many of the most affected are women and often women alone. They did not receive NI Home Responsibility protection when their children were young and had little access to Private pensions because of a whole range of factors. It is easy to forget the era when there was no nursery provision or wrap around child care and where women were expected to provide all the care for elderly parents. The resulting intermittent nature of their employment and the years when employers were entitled not to offer Pensions for part time staff, mean that many of my generation have entered retirement with just a basic state pension.

Even then, some like me were stupid enough to have used practically all of their savings to buy additional NI years to achieve a full State pension. Believing they were being prudent in the process.

Last year my Winter Fuel allowance was all I had to heat my home. I ran the thermostat at 16 degrees and cut back on all extras to ensure I got through the winter. I have no idea what I will do this year.

It sticks in my craw when I hear people attacking ‘rich’ pensioners, ‘Boomers’ etc.

Not everyone falls into this category and I defy anyone to live on a basic State pension and tell me they are rolling in luxury.

I truly believed a Labour government would look after the poorest in society. How wrong I was !!

Oh don't be stupid. 3 extra quid a week is hardly riches untold. A few k in savings and it's met. My DS has this in his 30s on a very low wage.

I'm not retirement age yet but if for example I spent the next 13 years caring for my aged mother and claiming carers allowance I would have a full state pension of £221.20 but no occupational pension. If I didn't have full NI contributions then I would be entitled to pension credit £218 plus the winter fuel payment and yes in my area council tax relief. So I would be worse off because I have full NI contributions.

Amazing. How bitter can you be about your Mil? It’s a tiny, tiny number of people this applies to and I guess most of them are women who might end up a fiver a week a bit better off. Find something more significant to froth about.

26-28% of pensioners living on just state pension and no additional icome from private pension. By their own admission, if they're willing to top up pension credit with extra benefits like winter fuel payments, council tax relief' etc then you struggle to live on £220 ish acweek.

@BaronessEllarawrosaurus now things like the married women's stamp has been abolished and qualifying NI credits have been reduced to 30 years I am wondering what circumstances would lead someone to not work, not need to claim any benefits but end up at 68 with very little in way of savings, income or pension provision.

All I can think is someone who worked abroad for years and returned penniless to the UK or someone who had a private income and pissed it up a wall.

Perhaps maybe a long term SAHP who got shafted in divorce from a wealthy spouse?

My MIL has married & divorced a few times, each one taking the lump sum pay out & spending it on general living costs rather than working or investing etc.

She now has state pension only, plus owns a small flat. She will be negatively impacted by yesterday's news and in many ways would be better off on pension credit.

Tbf she's made poor life choices & chosen not to work much. She can afford a simple life. It's good the safety net of PC is there as well.

nothing has made me as angry as what Labour have done to pensioners whilst giving junior doctors a 22% pay rise .

If we need more money to fund things like winter fuel payments or child benefit for all kids or social care reform or pay rises for Drs then we all need to pay more tax .

Yanbu 35 years is a long time to work then this

yep and I’m glad the majority are voting yanbu

The budget on 30th of Oct will announce tax rises

I’m disgusted they have said they are abandoning social care reform now too

Infi about winter fuel allowance

However, the Government has now changed it as to who will receive it

www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment

Pensioners can also apply for this & it is not means tested

However, I do not think that they can claim both PIP & Attendance allowance
They can only claim one of these

https://www.gov.uk/attendance-allowance

I agree with everything you said until believing Labour would look after pensioners. They'd rather spend the money on immigrants who have never paid a penny into our welfare system than pensioners. I can't wait to vote them out.

Some older pensioners worked from 16 years old. They got over 45 years NIC's paid and now a two fingers up to them from RR.

For those under state pension age

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

For those under state pension age

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

I know some elderly people that started work at 14 or 15

I started PT at 16

UK companies now have to offer employees access to pay into a private pension. However the employee can opt out. Some companies also pay extra into private pension. Some also provide free life insurance or death in service payment.
However, this was not the case in the past. Some companies offered no private pension to women.
Some Companies offered no private pension at all.
Life expectancy has increased over time which is why the state pension age has been increased too.

The system has been going for many years. The Conservative Government has had 14 years to set it right.

Yes but pension is based on how much NI you have paid over the years, so if you are entitled to pension credit it is because you haven't paid as much NI as someone who gets a pension. So why should someone who has paid NI and invested their after tax/NI income in property/savings be worse off than someone who hasn't worked/worked much less and therefore hasn't paid as much NI? It's just sends out a message that the less responsibility you take for your retirement, the more you will be rewarded.