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?

You can't get a free boiler just because you are over 60.

It was mandatory in 2017 dependant on company size.

Hi, I know several single parents who work no more than 16 hours pw because it will impact on their benefit entitlement. They report it not being worth it as their benefits will be affected and it isn't worth it as they would be worse off. Some of those people have chosen to have children on benefits, whilst also declaring that they are single. In contrast, some single parents cannot afford to work PT as they have too many outgoings ( I'M included in these). I really struggled financially when my son was little and received no benefits. Again, this demonstrates the diversity of people

Am I doing this wrong? Aiming for payrise after payrise

Hopefully it works out for you.

It didn't for me. Not everyone gets a pay rise all the time. In 2022 I earnt less than I had done in 2000. That btw is consistent with what happened to wages across the board during that time. My wage that I earnt in 2000 for doing crappy admin work would be £43k today, adjusted for inflation. Obviously no one doing crappy admin work earns that now, because financial crash + money printing for 16 years. And people who have entered the workforce during the past 16 years have no expectations otherwise.

But you might get lucky. It might get better. Fingers crossed.

I’m not sure how much I have paid in NI contributions over the years, but I know that I was only able to pay them by actually earning an income. As a result of that I have been able to buy my own house, have some nice holidays over the years, own cars that are no older than 3 years, pay for both my DDs weddings and university costs and generally enjoy the things in my life that unemployed people dont.
I’m ok with that. My DF received pension credits. He lived in a poky rented flat for the last 10 years of his life. It wasn’t great.

A close family member lives modestly on benefits. She does not have amazing holidays or flashy cars but she is also not too ill to work. I would never report her as I love her and it is not her fault that the system is so flawed but she is not ashamed of the fact that she plays the system.

She is not ashamed because many of her friends do the same. It's so naive to think that because we would never do this, that other people would not think twice.

Genuine question: how did the Tories reward work?

Noooo labour want to have their voters keep voting for them, the champagne socialists, who are smugly 'doing good' from their protected enclaves, and the work shy, benefit dependants.
Labour abhor those who actually would have been proper Labour, the hard working tax payer and see them as a cash cow to be ridiculed for their stupidity.

Pension credit is for anyone on old or new SP. It's possible to have the new state pension but not the full one because of missing NI contributions.

This I’m afraid

blame the greedy landlords who buy up all the properties and put people in poverty with their rent payments (which the public purse pays for via rent top ups). blame the low wage employers who refuse to pay a decent wage. blame tories and thatcher.

You are not wrong OP. The more responsibility you take for yourself, the more you get shafted. While the reckless get freebies all over the place.

Spot on

Your logic doesn't follow. Claiming child benefit counts towards your 35years contributions, so you could still get full state pension, never having worked a day in your life, as long as you spread your kids out well enough so you could claim child benefit (one at 16, one at 28 and one at 39 would do the trick).

We stop paying NI at state pension age @HauntedBungalow and @DoreenonTill8

I think you've been mugged off by your employer/s because you've not had anything to set aside. Did you not keep switching jobs to increase your salary? I changed mine every couple of years since I couldn't get an internal payrise.

Many don't feel ashamed because we normalise this behaviour, we encourage people to seek for entitlement instead of contributing to our society.

The basic rate of the old state pension is £169, the new one is £229. That's 26% less. There's all sorts of complications about earnings-related additions etc which means what any individual gets may be more or less than either of these amounts.

The new state pension was designed to be more than the old one in order to take people out of means testing, ie pension credit. The argument was that the introduction of auto enrolment would mean that in the future people would have private pensions to supplement their income, so the fact they were now barred from all the benefits that hang off pension credit would not be a problem.

My leeching bastard brother is another one who plays the system and has done for years. No, he doesn’t go on nice holidays, rarely goes out socially - he has little disposable ‘income’ - but as long as he has a roof over his head that he doesn’t have to pay for that’s all he gives a shit about. The benefits system needs an overhaul, and regular means tested social housing eligibility should happen (but won’t).

No you have to.keep on paying.

So we shouldn't have to start paying it till 33 then?