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?

Have you even earned half a million?

So far as I understand it, you only get full pension credits (which is slightly less than a state pension) once your savings drop to £10,000 or below. Whereas if you've worked and saved and paid NI, you could have two million in savings but you'd still get a full state pension.

People who have lots of savings can use the state pension for food and heating, and then use their savings for trips abroad, meals out, etc. Those who live on pension credits and nothing else have no savings. If you never pay NI you are basically forced to live off your savings until they drop to £10,000. Then you get pension credits. Having just £8,000 in the bank and a weekly income of £227 is not fun. It means no life. No holidays, no trips to expensive coffee shops or lunches with friends – just enough to eat and heat the house and pay your bills.

That’s also the life of someone with full state pension and no savings.

Yes. But people who have worked all their lives and paid NI usually have some savings. They can then use those savings to enjoy their retirement (or at least have a few perks). To qualify for full pension credits you need to basically have no savings. That then means living in poverty, with just enough to eat and heat your flat – if that. I know it isn't fair that a lazy and dishonest individual who has never worked gets a pension, but we shouldn't get carried away. It isn't a nice life. They die in poverty.

How does dishonesty come into it?

It would annoy me too. Until I had a disabled child the the LA won’t provide a school place for so I’ve had to quit work can’t pay my mortgage no chance of paying into a pension. I desperately want my child in school and desperately want to work. But the system is against my child. If he never becomes independent (likely) how can I possibly pay into a private pension? And then how is it fair I’m forced to live in poverty my whole life working age and into retirement because there is nowhere for my child to be educated or day centre once he’s an adult?

I won’t even have access to my partners pension because the stress of a disabled child out of school meant he bailed.

you can’t cunt down on those playing the system without families like mine being affected

I will admit I didn't check the AI response to my question

More fool me!

I mean the majority of us will be pushing our death bed by the time we claim our pension and many of us won’t even get there. If it’s bothering you so much now give up work and go on benefits. You’ll soon change your mind about it.

You clearly have zero understanding of the benefit system inc PC

Its not just pension credit tbough. Being on pension credit means free tv licence at a certain age. It means full winter fuel allowance plus help with rent, council tax Dentist and opticians so is worth a good deal more than £3 a week. Probably a lot more than my private pensions

do any of u understand how pc works I suggest u look it up u do not get full state pension plus full pc .
pc tops up 2 full state pension level .not everyone will receive full state pension so pc will top up to pension unless u have dependants

Absolutely agree OP. My bil was a self employed plasterer for 40 years before retirement. Never paid tax, hardly paid any NI contributions. He retired last year and gets pension credits which brings his pension up to nearly full state pension. And it opens doors for him too with access to other benefits and help. I mean, why do we bother??

This isn’t true at all. Many people who have worked all their life really don’t have savings. Surely you realise that someone on minimum wage most of their life is just going to get by. I didn’t start saving until my mortgage finished last year, and before that I’d worked full time my entire life, and not on minimum wage either.

Pension credit brings a lot of freebies

i have an ex friend who gets pension credit and DLA

she goes on expensive holidays (£3500 for a week this August, having paid £2000 to go away in February of this year) - planning a personalised safari next year, flying business class - she only flies BA business class

she has a brand new flat, rent 100% paid, council tax 100% paid, service charges 100% paid. Living expenses she pays electric, gas and food. Her car is a mobility car so literally pays petrol. As she’s on pension credit the up front cost is paid for. She no longer qualifies for mobility element as she’s way better than when it got awarded but as she’s over state pension age gets a ‘soft touch’ review every 10 years where they just write to her and ask if she’s better, she just replied no change and that was it! She’s more mobile than me and I’m not within 100 miles of qualifying for mobility

she belongs to the most expensive gym around and pays for the year up front ( north of £1000)

she shops in Waitrose

her car is £38000 list price and is replaced for a brand new one every three years

As usual there’s a benefit cliff face where if you earn an extra £3 you lose thousands of pounds. Our benefits system does need an overhaul

i totally support looking after our most vulnerable but it shouldn’t be all or nothing

So of course you wont ever have employed a self employed person to work on your property as im sure you have put your money where your mouth is

Someone working 40 years on NMW has contributed to the economy and to society but producing goods or providing services for decades. My cousin was a SAHM and has never worked since leaving university. She got NI credits until her youngest child reached16, and then was advised by her husband's accountant to pay the minimum into the State pension (about £900 pa at today's rates, but less for a lot of the time she paid in) which she did for maybe ten years until claiming a full SP.

And you do really the reasons for people claiming benefits are complex too and that society cannot pay for numerous people who aren't contributing themselves, especially when they are capable of working.

How does she claim DLA if she's pension age?

If you get PIP or DLA before you reach SP age it continues. If you develop the same health condition after SP age, you can only claim Attendance Allowance, which doesn’t have a mobility element, and no entitlement to the Motability scheme.

This, it’s why she’s on DLA not PIP

She must be quite elderly then if she didn't have to transition to PIP.

Pension credit reduces when you have other income. On state pension you can have another £1million coming in a day and you still get it. They are different things.

I didn’t say the person hasn’t contributed to society.

Mid 70’s

And I didn't say you did😀