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?

As to 'do I want to see these people in poverty'

If we're using the Joseph Rowntree foundation's definitions then yes - the lifestyle they describe is not available to many individuals who work full time.

Absolute poverty - not quite, but I would say a very basic lifestyle only meeting needs, nothing more - and if they have assets, which so many have (houses paid off and savings) then they can use them first - all of it.

Good for you? We are all different.

Joseph Rowntree 'minimum income standard'

A single person needs to earn £30,500 a year to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living in 2025. A couple with 2 children needs to earn £74,000 a year between them.

As one of the ones covered by your first line (and you can add visible disability) :

Others............. don't. can't.

My son is disabled and I lost my job because of that. Right now, it wouldn't be possible to keep a job and care for him.

So you would want people to sell their house and live off the proceeds before getting pension credit? Just for them to end up homeless and having to rent and have the rent paid for. That makes no sense.
No one on UC is asked to sell the house they live in before they can claim.
You cant eat bricks and mortar.

@TwilightSkiesnot necessarily. Relationship breakdown, low income, disability, caring duties, can all change finances.

@TheSpiritofDarkandLonelyWater That rather depends if they're living on their own in a 4 bedroom house in London or in a single pensioner flat.

Some elderly people are absolutely determined to keep hold of their 'homes' for their children whilst allowing other people to pay for their day to day costs.

Why stop at single pensioner flat? Why not an HMO? Workhouse?

Of course, just the same that - but I could probably live with individuals who are reliant on the state living in dormitories or shared rooms.

Please indulge me, as I'm asking from a point of curiosity rather than provocation. Leaving aside the hurdles disabled people/carers face regarding discrimination (which do exist, whatever people claim), how does someone think themselves well enough to work? To use an example, if someone is unable to use the toilet, immobile, seizing regularly... how do they think themselves well enough to work?

It's ridiculous. People who have worked all their lives should be substantially better off than people who have been shirkers all their lives.

From what I have seen on MN, if you are denied money then you are suddenly not disabled anymore and can get a job

@Nowherefast4

Well as the fastest growing group is those with mental health disorders - top of the list anxiety/depression there is quite a lot they can do to help them get better and back into work.

1. Exercise - every day
2. Eat well
3. Manage their sleep
4. Attend their appointments - always
5. Take their medication as suggested
6. Attend their therapy
7. Attend their work placements suggested and engage as much as possible with the tasks given

Things that do not help

1. Refusing to attend appointments
2. Not forcing themselves out of bed and into a sleep routine
3. Not exercising or doing physio exercises
4. Utilising alcohol or illegal drugs that they know make them worse
5. Not taking their medication
6. Not working when working actually helps

That's so simple and easy. It's amazing that anyone has anxiety or depression.

No one is saying poorer pensioners should get nothing. But for lower earners, often the private pension is minimal, auto enrolment is a very recent thing - a few percent of minimum wage does not accumulate into much - it might only be worth a few pounds a week.

The issue is there's no incremental benefit to having worked and paid your NICs, when the state pension you get for that is just £3 more than the pension credit deemed to be the minimum needed to live on.

It should be that state pension from a full NIC contribution record gives you a materially better pension than pension credit.

Why is it disgusting ? Whats the point of working if you end up worse off then someone who did nothing all their life?

@Kirbert2 Many many people have periods of anxiety and depression.

Most continue working. Most treat and/or manage their conditions.

I wasn’t saying that it did. I was replying to the poster who said that in the past only ‘rich people’, and the likes of teachers and civil servants had access to ‘meaningful’ pensions.

Which was just not true.

My anxiety and depression are secondary to the other issues I have.

Periods of anxiety and/or depression where you can continue working is very different to severe anxiety and/or depression where you can't continue working.

Not everyone is the same and not all anxiety/depression is minor and not everyone is able to manage their conditions, especially with poor mental health.

The issue here is the same as for minimum wage and most supervisory/management jobs - with hardly any differential. But we need people to eat! Basically most people are now living much closer to the breadline whilst a small few are making an absolute killing. We haven’t lived in such an unequal society for many generations… yet we simultaneously fail to see the fruit of our labour. This seems to contradict but essentially we now have two classes - the ultra rich and everybody else.

Being able to continue to work depends on if you have an understanding employer. I didnt

That's a good point too.

Me either.

I don't have any health issues but my son is disabled. I was gone almost instantly.