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

I'm not jealous of these people I can afford to pay for them but many on only £3 more per month after paying full NIC's can't.

OK, I’m not understanding then.

”The full basic State Pension under the old system is currently £169.50 per week for people who have all the qualifying years of NI contributions for their date of birth.”

That is less than the qualifying limit for pension credit. So what am I missing?

I never said that. But there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

This was the point of the thread, not bashing people

Apologies, then. You have good reason to feel hard done by.

it’s not very clear. This is a good link which explains it. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/additional-state-pension#:~:text=Additional%20State%20Pension%2C%20also%20known,born%20before%206%20April%201953.

Basically, individuals used to have an entitlement to additional state pension on top of the basic state pension, paid for by full NICs.

A lot of people who were in pension schemes at that time were contracted out of the additional state pension. They paid lower NICs and didn’t earn any additional state pension for that period.

But someone who was not in a pension scheme at that time would have been earning additional state pension (unless on a low salary).

Unfortunately those pensioners who carried on working until they were 70 will get new state pension and miss put despite some of them working full time from 16 years of age with no gap years, time out for looking after DC and they worked well beyond what they had too. The harder you work the harder Labour screws you over.

Why’s it Labour screwing you over? Agreed Labour introduced pension credit (I think it replaced another payment) but the Conservatives have had 14 years to deal with the anomaly of people just above the limit being worse off than people below the limit. And the new state pension is entirely a Conservative thing.

I really want Labour to do well, Full of hope for a new government but they need to be fair if they're going to keep my very hard won, flexible vote

No it isn’t nonsense. It is a reality for some. Some people work their butts off to provide and it’s hard to see others who don’t work get everything and more.
Some people can’t save due to limited earning potential. Not everyone has a massive pension pot so those who have very small work pensions will miss out on the winter fuel allowance.

I've been advising a friend for ages to find a way of paying his missing NI contributions so he gets a full state pension. I've realised I'm giving him the wrong advice. He'd be better off not paying and getting a top up through pension credit.

His wife did say to me ' it doesn't matter, CAB told me he'll get his full pension anyway'......

The fact it's not clear is not good

Because RR just screwed over pensioners claiming a SP who don't have a private pension and will now get less than those on PC.

She's pretty switched on though so hopefully she'll sort something within a short while?

We only get state pension and no other benefits. Just under £1600 a month for 2 of us.

I get Pre 97 additional state pension £12
I get Post 97 additional state pension £55
I get Extra basic state pension £37 etc etc.
Total £281 a week at the old rate = £1217 a month.
Any clearer??

Those pensioners always have got less than someone on PC. There's always been an anomaly where people just above the limit end up considerably worse off than those just below because of all the other benefits that hang off PC. RR has made it even worse by £4 a week. But the Conservatives have had 14 years to do something about it and haven't. So it's not just Labour screwing them over.

I love your optimism.

35 years a long time! I'm about to retire at 65 (not in the UK) and started full time work 49 years ago, three weeks after my 16th birthday.

I'm not in the UK but your system seems very unwieldy to me. Surely it would make more sense to simplify it.

Ok @ForGreyKoala tell us about your simple system ?

My thoughts are, instead of the Government giving some people X amount for winter fuel & some other people Y amount for something else, yardage, yadda

It would be easier to just increase the state pension to 12k per year for everyone, job done !

But is the whole issue! Some don't need the winter fuel (or the increase to 12K) and others do.

I’m surprised to see how often the State Pension is referred to as if there are two different pensions. There is only one, paid under two different circumstances. This gives us the Basic (Old) State Pension, currently £169.50 per week and the Deferred Years (New) State Pension, currently £221.20 per week.

Pensioners receiving Basic State Pension are all now over 70.

Pension Credit is paid to those whose total income is less than £218.15 (slightly more if you claim AA). Income is then topped up to this amount.

If you have £10,000 or less in savings and investments this will not affect your Pension Credit. If you have more than £10,000, every £500 over £10,000 counts as £1 income a week. For example, if you have £11,000 in savings, this counts as £2 income a week.

It is estimate that 880,000 eligible households are not claiming Pension Credit. While some households are only receiving a few pounds a week, a successful application triggers other benefits as the DWP will be able to use the figures in the application to check the applicant is getting all Social Benefits they are due.

Each year both State Pension and eligability criteria rise by the percentage dictated by the Triple Lock. Because of the compounding effect, Pensioners eligable for Pension Credit but not claiming (the poorest Pensioners) get poorer year by year in comparison to other Pensioners - the gap widens. Those on Basic (Old) State Pension get relatively poorer each year by comparison to those on the Deferred Years (New) State Pension. However, this is balanced to some extent by the extra Pension they received from age 60.

Personally, I think the abolition of WFA this year is a done deal. However, I would hope to see a change in the budget. I would suggest that both the WFA and the £10 Christmas Bonus are abolished. They were/are neither Pension or Social Benefit; they were special measures at a time of crisis. I would the suggest that they are added together* and used to raise the Pension Credit Eligibility level when the Triple Lock is applied to the Pension and the Pension Credit for next April. This would then help those Pensioners who are just a few pounds over the Pension Credit currently.

• A total of £310 adding £5.96

Just bringing this thread back OP
RR switched on ???

Not really. Your thread is still correct after the announced pension increases. Those getting winter fuel ( help with council tax, free tv licence etc etc ) if they have pension credit will still be better off than those on a full state pension ( ie those that have accrued the required years working ).

RR not that switched on that the entire Labour maths department and RR can’t actually do their maths to make work pay!

Yup. You're right. Hopes dashed well and truly.