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?

Because she’ll have a miserable life on benefits. Going to work has many more benefits than state pension

This is an interesting thread. Does OP believe in the redistribution of wealth for the benefit of all or do they believe you should get more out of the state if you pay in more?

Food for thought - the top 10% of earners in the UK pay 60% of the tax contributions. Should they get larger pensions? Half the population contributes approx 9% of the tax contributions. Should we agree half the population therefore deserves poverty in old age?

Their is no limit on how much NI you can pay in a year - if you earn more, you pay more. I am sure plenty of high earners would quite like their NI contributions capped and/or to have some back to invest privately (perhaps rather than to pay into a state pension fund they may never well be paid from).

In Canada, the equivalent of your NI contribution is recorded and is linked to your pension amount. Guess what - only the highest earners get a full pension as a result. Anyone who starts work later in life or is disrupted (caring, illness, woman off with children) is therefore out of luck. Loads of people can just never retire even though, they too, have worked all their adult lives.

It’s quite funny to see people frothing about pension credit tbh.

Pensions, regardless of how much you’re getting, are a benefit. Just like UC.
The state is paying people some money so they don’t starve because … yes we’re thankfully in a country where we try and avoid that.
So you get £800 a month. Whether you have a pension, pension credit or UC (as someone who can’t work/chronically ill/disabled). Everyone is on the same thing - what the government considers is enough to live on.

How is it paid? Through taxes. Not just income tax, but basically all of the taxes we and companies pay.

Thats it. There isn’t anything else going on. Nothing unfair. Because there has never been one pot we have been paying in for our pension so people who pay less receive less. That’s what company and private pensions are for.

I think the OP probably would...

Bring back the workhouses

yes, and it's pretty obvious, especially as the poster has usually, 'just found out' and is so shocked and horrified they just had to make a poll about it.
So many of these recently.

Exactly. I’m a high earner, and pay significantly more NI than someone on minimum wage. What if people like me started demanding we got higher state pensions because we’d paid more into ‘the pot’?

Benefit of working?

• having more money available just now
• intellectual stimulation
• social side
• ability to have savings (and build up a private pension as we’re talking about pensions)
• depending on your company, dh has access to private healthcare

Believe me, as someone who can’t work due to ill health, there is nothing that if like more than being able to work again! And that’s not for my pension.

Seriously if you feel that not working is so great, maybe try not working and living on benefits instead. See how it feels.

OMG don't be such a conspiracy theorist. There was a thread today where someone mentioned about pension credit (I think the 'DH prioritises 10k/year' or 'retired parents too busy for me' but I'm not going to trawl back through for you) and I looked it up as had never heard of it.
Another poster has said how 2Billion pension credit is unclaimed every year so it obviously is something lots of people are unaware of, thus explaining my surprise.
Of course maybe those other threads are all planted too!

A lot on that list is not relevant if you are a low paid factory worker

Well for 20 odd years I’ve been a carer for my disabled son. I do have a very small private pension from the 18 years before that when I worked full time. It’s not all feckless, lazy people !

Which in some ways I’d hope they do.
Because, looking at the future, with AI, I cant see how we will be able to function without a Universal Basic Income.

At which point, Itd make sense to get rid off pension, disability benefit, UC etc… and just give everyone the same. And the ability to top it up with some work if you can.

I agree, UBI will definitely be needed soon

How much more tax were you willing to pay each year of your life to fund this?

If you get a small private pension it could possibly leave you worse off. Because you don't qualify for the freebies folk get on pension credit. The system is screwed

this is what I was told by a pension advisor 20ish years ago. However, that is no longer applicable as pension credit is, as the OP says, 3£ under full state pension. If you have 35 years of NI payments, you gain nothing from not saving for some extra pension as far as I can see now unless I am missing something?

Just before lunch, there was an item on the R4 noon newsflash that the state pension would be rising by c£500 in 2026, because average wages have risen 4.6%. Which pushes the state pension very very close to the income tax threshold, which is fixed until 2028 (I think 2028), and probably past it in 2027.

I don't begrudge helping those who cannot work through no fault of their own.

I am a bit peeved about people like my neighbours' sons. They're both middle-aged and each has his own flat where rent and council tax are both paid. They're claiming benefits but also doing cash-in-hand work. I have had to keep making excuses not to employ them any time I've needed work done around the house or garden.

No, I'm not reporting them - the neighbour already had her front door kicked in by one of them. Not his fault, apparently - it's his drug problem.

If he and his brother live long enough, they'll be claiming pension credit soon enough, unless inheriting their mother's house puts paid to that. (Maybe she'll leave it to the grandchildren.)

As others have stated, it seems unfair on those who have worked hard all their days but only have their state pension plus possibly a small work pension and therefore are not entitled to any extra help.

You are assuming that non contribution and lack of private pensions was an active choice.

You obviously didn’t get the memo.

Everyone over 50 grew up in luxury, takes five cruises a year and feeds off the blood of the under 30s.

Fact.

Maybe they won't get it. These thongs are issued at the whim and fancy of the government; and I'd prefer not to be at their mercy.

At least you're in a better position where you're (most likely) guaranteed a full state pension and hopefully some private ones and savings to boot.

I know which position I'd prefer to be in.

Would you prefer that we left people without pensions to starve?

Most of those people will have received NI credits due to being on benefits all their working lives and probably a full state pension rather than pension credits.

Sorry what? A large part of my job is helping private sector pension schemes secure their liabilities with insurers. These schemes were typically set up in the 60s/70s and closed to new members and future accrual in the 00s/10s. The total liabilities out there run into the trillions of pounds - millions and millions of ordinary workers have the benefit of occupational pensions, as an aside usually on considerably better terms than anybody starting in the workforce today can expect. So what are you on about?

So you want pensions to live in poverty? Because that is what you are suggesting. One of the consequences of that will be more ill health and the burden on the NH|S even greater from the elderly than it already is.There will be no money saved by doing this. I hate this ‘punish the poor’ rhetoric. You will be advocating for workhouses for pensioners next.