Pension credit only £3 less than State Pension

[SpanishBaguette]

Maybe it's been obvious to others but I've only just found out that Pension Credit will top you up to no less than £227 per week which is only £3 less than the state pension.

AIBU to be hacked off that I need to pay 35 years of contributions to end up with a near identical pension to someone who gets it for free. WTF?

If you’ve worked for 35 years surely you having savings and private pensions? So you’ll be better off than those who get a Pension Credit top-up.

We have a rule in our house. It's one of the few rules we both stick to

We do not mention this. We don't talk about feckless SIL, nephew etc who will reap the reward of Pension Credit having lived off various other benefits for the vast majority of their lives.

That we each have one such on our side of the family helps us not get to personal about it. But blood pressures get raised whenever the topic is raised.

So we don't allow it in our house

We pretend we don't know and we just ignore it!

Well it's not much different to having to work for your money or getting handouts not to work.

x

This. It’s not a race to the bottom.

Would you rather poorer pensioners struggle to survive?

I mean sure, you could stop working and live on benefits all your life including during retirement. But I'd rather have had a career, a work pension, and a state pension on top.

But you do you.

It’s bad, and those who say you will have state benefit and private, no! Not in the real world. In the real world that private pension is paying monthly for all the things you get free with pension credit, like council tax etc.

Not everyone working full time for 35 years can afford to pay into private pension or have savings. This is why people can't be arsed to work as they know they are going to get benefits till they are dead so whats the point

PPPs, opting out etc, were only made available in the UK in 1988 and for the majority of people they were a legal quagmire of "I have no fucking idea", and that often included the 'specialist advisors'

Automatic Enrolment has only been a thing for about 10 years

Not everyone has the comfort of savings and large personal pension pots

You only get pension credit if you don't have a private pension though. The state has to somehow support people of pension age who have no other income.

It’s just how the system works. Just as some people pay very little tax and use loads of services, others pay a lot and may never avail themselves of much. There’s not really an alternative which wouldn’t see many older people struggling (as many did prior to state pension changes and pension credit) and overall I find it preferable to having to step over poverty-stricken homeless pensioners on my way to the opera.

Then stop working, claim benefits and your 'free' pension if you think it's all so easy and clear cut!

Pc passports someone to a lot of additional support. Even a very small private pension will likely make an individual ineligible.

This.

If you’ve worked 35 years you likely also have some form of private pension.

Would you rather those pensioners lived in poverty?

It's just the same as people living on benefits when you have to work, nothing changes when you retire, often the same people too. But in a civilised country what's the alternative? Bring back the workhouse for the destitute? The state pension is not exactly luxurious living.

I get the point about having a private pension. Why I think it niggles more than earning money while other working-age people get free money is because:

-Those people usually have children so it's not practical for the state to not step in
-The State pension amount is decided by the State as being an appropriate amount for those who have paid in. For the state to say that they think an appropriate pension is £3 more than the benefit they need to give someone who hasn't contributed a penny is absolutely galling.

It's very unfair as being on pension credit often triggers other help that a person with a tiny workplace pension won't get. Definitely getting rewarded for being at feckless lazy arse. Not including carers or very disabled in this btw.

@ComtesseDeSpair yep! Which is why we don't discuss it here.

We both agree that benefits are much needed. We both know that some rely on said benefits for reasons that don't make any sense - failure to thrive being the only definition we have

But, being human, we do sometimes ponder the relative unfairness of the situation we have been supporting financially for the whole of our working lives. Moreso as we near the time when we have to hope that we did actually manage to put away enough in private pensions to see us through!

So would you prefer society just gave up on people? You do realise the reasons for poverty are complex, don't you? Domestic abuse, disability, caring responsibilities, marital breakdown - all reasons why people might not have reached their full state pension.

If only. I worked 50 years, no savings and a private pension worth £56 a month. Sometimes circumstances mean all you can do is just survive. This myth that all pensioners are raking it in is ridiculous.

That's why it isn't recommended to put into a private pension if it is going to be a very small amount as you miss out on the top up things with pension credit so wouldn't benefit from having a private pension, likewise paying for NI credits

I feel like you’re one of those people who think by paying NI you are saving for your state pension? It goes without saying you’re not, your NI contributions supper current pensions. The people working when youre 65 willl pay for yours.

everyone knows that some people pay tax and some don’t. My MIL gets a state pension, she was a “housewife” who hasn’t worked a day in her life. I have plenty of family members who worked part time or very little. I also know loads of self employed people who dodged tax beyond belief when it was easier and people enjoyed sticking it to “the man”

all pensioners now, your NI is paying for them.

Pension credit is irrelevant really?

For less than 1/3 of my working life mandatory workplace pensions have existed

That would be c10 out of 42 years!

Before that only rich people, teachers, civil servants etc had meaningful access to additional pensions.

My DM is 71 still works FT as a carer and will have to live on a basic state pension when she retires. No private pension and little savings as has worked for NMW for all her career. As I am sure you well know not everyone has the opportunity to save and put away for private pensions. Why should somebody who hasn't lifted a finger get as much as her? You do you though.