AIBU to think that I shouldn't have bothered working and paying into National Insurance for the 35 years I have done so?

[HauntedBungalow]

When all I will get is the bare State Pension. Whereas other people who did not make these contributions and/or did not work will get Pension Credit plus all the other nice little add ons like Council Tax Support, free boilers and now Winter Fuel Allowance? AIBU to think I'm a mug for bothering to work all those years?

Have you not paid into a private pension in all that time?

And for that 35 years, have those people been better or worse off than you?

I hear you OP.

when I look at what my mother (who is only 15 years older than me) got and then compare it to what i'm gonna get, i could cry.

Hopefully you have another pension too????

@HauntedBungalow DH gets PC He did pay into a private pension but they went bust.

You can get a free boiler as someone over 60. Council tax support is means tested. Were you not paid for working?

Have you saved or put money into a private pension at all?

I assume you’re better off than those who haven’t worked for as long as you but that depends on your job of course.

Yes because a life on pension credit is a lovely existence.

You will probably get Pension Credit if you have just the state pension and no savings or private pension. You will then get all your council tax paid and all or most of your rent.

Have you been working? If not I'm confused here

Some. The two that I paid most into (before I had my kids) went bust, first one, then the other. I then worked for employers with no pension scheme. These last 10 years I've been paying in to the compulsory one at my work. I'll get a couple of hundred quid annuity a year off it.

No you can't, sadly. Full state pension takes you £4 a week over the limit where you could claim pension credit.

There are always winners and losers I’m afraid. I don’t have a pension and fully expect to have to work until I drop. A health situation really fucked my working life over so it’s been a hard slog in low paid jobs my whole life.

The thing is people get pension credit for a huge variety of reasons. It may be a lady who was widowed young and spent her life bringing up kids and grandkids, or someone who was a carer for a disabled child, or someone too ill or disabled to work. Or it could be someone who was self employed but didn't pay NI contributions ( quite a few of those around), or someone who just never worked through laziness. I recently helped someone to claim pension credit as their only source of income because he had lived abroad for many years and just returned to the UK just before turning state pension age. As a UK citizen he was still able to claim. My point is you can't really lump all pension credit claimants together !

This, and by the time I retire the state pension will only be for those who've never contributed. And our private work pensions will be taxed again no doubt! Do we stop having to pay ni after 35 years contributions?

Do we stop having to pay ni after 35 years contributions?

I fucking wish

I agree. Save money all your life and get penalised, spend every last penny and get rewarded. Socialism.
Leave a decent inheritance and get taxed to hell for that too. Doesn't work

I hear you OP. As well everything you worked for will be gone on care home fees because that won't be paid for either.

I'm still glad though I worked, paid taxes, NI. Have a small pension. Life is better having done so.

But I do get what you're saying

Then they should have gone to work. What exactly is your point

Agree with this.

Work hard and get fleeced.

It may be a lady who was widowed young and spent her life bringing up kids and grandkids

I fucking brought my kids up alone. I sure as shit wish now that I hadn't worked while doing so, for all the fucking good it's done me. It's just going to cost me once I'm no longer able to work is all it will do.

But haven't you enjoyed a better quality of life than those that (in your words) "didn't bother"?

Dunno really. Most of the time I couldn't afford to run a car, couldn't afford to learn to drive. I spent a vast portion of time waiting for buses to and from work, a vast portion of money on childcare fines when I was late picking up my kids, and most daylight hours not with my kids at all. We had a couple of nice holidays. That's about it, I guess.

Apart from the winter fuel allowance (less than £4 a week) the pension credit situation has been the same since it started. We’ve had 14 years of a Conservative government. Are they Socialist?

People used to be able to get pension credit when they just got state pension.