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?

Or she could just hate her job/boss. Plenty of people do.

If you are talking about the 'basic' state pension that was what was offered before 2016 - it is much lower than the new state pension (for which many of us had to work 39/44 years.)
Many of the generation of workers you refer to had no access to private/workplace pensions as a lot of women worked part-time

FYI - only about 1.5 million of the 12 million pensioners currently receive pension credit. The rest are either on the 'new' improved state pension or the lower 'old' pension boosted by small annuities or SERPs (look it up).

The new state pension was deliberately equated roughly to the PC level to prevent more PC claimants.

Contrary to the belief prevalent on other threads about 'rich' pensioners - the average single female pensioner has a pre-tax income of circa £17k pa - I think that cohort deserve the £200 pa winter fuel allowance as many are now quite elderly.

Well I can surely understand that it’s a predictable consequence of her choosing to not working in her 20s, and then work so little on her 30s so yes it is to be expected. But who knows she may surprise me and actually enjoy it.

Oh well that's alright then 🙄

Why? 16 hours is naff all. The good times are up, she should be grateful she had them. And just ‘pleased she has a job’, like we are constantly told we should be 🤪

She likes her job, it’s very rewarding although not high paid. But she just finds working exhausting which is maybe due to not working at all before that she was 31. She is really close with her colleagues and I’ve met them on social occasions .

I like my job too but she often says to me “I don’t know how you can work full-time”
I’m like, um I don’t deserve a medal lol it’s what most people I know do 😆 I did remind her once that our mutual childhood friend with 4 kids has always worked full-time (except maternity) as an example that people are accomplishing greater feats than me 😆

anyway I was making a wider point based on a specific example I had, and someone has answered my questions and I’ve responded to follow up questions, which is fine, but I don’t want this whole thread to centre on this person lol

@stickingatit I’m not here to fill up the thread with a back and forth with you, and repeat things I’ve already shared on this thread.

As stated before, I’m talking about the example of someone I know to show a wider issue in the system pertaining to the interesting topic of this thread. And most people are engaging in good faith, but I don’t think you are, so to put it bluntly I won’t continue reading or replying to your comments.

Also why does the dc,have to be 13, why couldn't she work before, plenty of people do it when their dc are at infant school

I'm sure 20 years' ago N.I contributions weren't paid after my dc were 6, I had already started working anyway but it was in the small print

Exactly my point I was making upthread. 13 seems too old.

Especially if someone has 13+ kids or a partner that can be in the house with say an 11 year old for a couple of hours. But again it’s a flaw in the system, people will do what’s best or easiest for them!

It's only the WFA that's changed with this announcement though. Your entitlement/access to everything else has remained unchanged. People will be losing out on the equivalent of £2-£6 a week from this change, based on the value of payments being £100-300.

Yes for those on the cusp of entitlement it will feel like missing out, however there has to be a cut off somewhere. Having a non means tested handout for all is ridiculous.

There was another (now full) thread on this topic where many posters said about their parents/family getting the WFA despite having very handsome private pensions etc.
You are right, the line has to be drawn somewhere, and when this happens... the people on the cusp lose out. This is the case with anything means tested. The CoL payments were an example when they were being given out.
And as always, the people who are entitled to CoL/WFA are accused of being scroungers etc. Happens in every thread.

That is a fraudulent situation though, with a side of tax evasion thrown in. Nothing to do with if the WFA should be means tested or not.

Your NI was never put in a pot for you.

It paid for your parents and grandparents pensions.

With pensions you either need to have a big one or nothing at all.

I'm a long way off retirement age, and probably things will have changed again by then.
So, I'm just kind of observing this chat. But, I do have to say that one thing I find puzzling about Pension Credit is that they don't take home value into account.
I know an old lady nearby whose cat I sometimes look after. I don't think she's worked much (in the paid sense) much at all in her life. She's receives pension credit. No judgement. Not my business. But, I get confused as she lives in an enormous house! I mean enormous. 3 storeys, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. In the south-east. Must be worth circa £500 k. I'd understand totally if it's the house she'd brought her children up in, but no. Her ex-husband bought it for her about five years ago. She's always pleading poverty, and I do think takes advantage of people a bit (friends pay for her annual holiday etc) Conversely I know another old lady, very working class. Worked and worked and worked for years. Lives a tiny humble little bungalow worth about half that. She's got a pension, but a small one. Not entitled to pension credit. Never complains about being poor. I always think it's a bit unfair.
The first lady is unaware of her privilege I think. I've done voluntary work with homeless people, and am renting myself, so I struggle to hear an owner of such a huge posh gaff say how poor she is. She doesn't pay council tax, and has all the freebies.
Ah well, I don't make the rules 🤷‍♀️

It would be madness if home value was taken into account for means testing.
I am pretty sure that second homes etc are classed as assets, so their value would be taken into account but the home you live in? No. You can't eat bricks.

She must spend all her Pension Credit on the upkeep. It would cost a fortune to maintain a property that size.

I sometimes think I would have been better off sitting around, being a housewife,not in paid work, when my kids were young.

Those on Pension Credit get all the perks.

But, what money I get (full state pension, the enhanced rate, and private pensions) are mine, and I don’t have to fill out forms hoping for a handout. And what I get is not subject to government whim.

So, it’s swings and roundabouts. 🤷‍♀️

Why would it be madness?

Because living in your own home does not bring an income in (like a second home would).
Or should people sell their home, and end up in rented places (that is paid for by housing benefit), or end up homeless and housed in hostels etc, also at cost.

My home is owned outright, yet I am on UC. I am not on housing benefit (not entitled and why would I be?). Am I meant to be selling everything before I can claim?
Back when the dole was introduced, that was a thing. People came to your house and valued your goods. Do you want a return to those days? And if you do... why?

Means testing according to property ownership would indeed be madness - the logical conclusion would be forcing people to sell their homes and live off the proceeds, which is what happens if people need residential care anyway. And you could apply that level of "responsibility" to anyone temporarily facing hardship. It would add another layer of chaos to the housing market. A huge amount of property would fall into the hands of fewer and fewer people. Larger properties are unaffordable for many "hard working" families at it is.

Developers would have a field day, demolishing and re-developing such properties, creating endless student accommodation, tiny one bed flats still unaffordable to either rent or buy, changing neighbourhoods beyond recognition and destroying communities even more than they do already.

There's no point in setting the value of Mabel's house against her sodding pension credit because as Xenobitch rightly says, she can't eat bricks.

Sell and downsize.

If I was in debt and couldn’t afford to live, my home would be repossessed, nobody would care it’s my children’s home. Why should you be any different?

There's no point in setting the value of Mabel's house against her sodding pension credit because as Xenobitch rightly says, she can't eat bricks.

No but she can sell them. Nobody, NOBODY sitting in a 800k house owned outright needs pension credit or fuel allowance.