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?

That's so interesting. So people with private pensions under £10k would have been better off keeping it as savings?

It is true.

Perhaos their income is too high, or they have other assets you don’t know about,

I find these kind of threads tiresome .Yes let's let the old people starve, because shock /horror they may not have earnt very much in their working lives! The whole point of pension credit is to make sure everyone in their older years benefits .My Great Nan apparently had the sum total of 4 /6d in old money when she died . when alive Grandad and his brothers used to give her 5/ shillings each .Some old folk were in the workhouse! Please lets embrace kindness and help each other

The answer to this is ‘yes’.

Many People have seen their standards of living drop in recent years so at this point really don’t care about anyone but themselves. It’s pathetic.

I don't think they take that into account.

Perhaps. Either way, £10k is pretty low.

If the state pension was based on the actual NI payments you made over your working life, plenty of people would get less than the current state pension. To put it in to perspective you need to have saved a pot of over £300k to get a private pension that is similar to the state pension.

YANBU, it’s ridiculous. But unfortunately there really isn’t an alternative. If it wasn’t that way, how would these people survive?

I’m not sure how to answer that, I have never worked in public service and have been paying into workplace pension since 1995. That’s obviously not the 70s but way before 2010 and I know a few female boomers with private pensions.

it doesn’t really change the fact that the pension isn’t there because it wasn’t paid for, though, does it?

They might have a private pension, my parents don't qualify either they live in social housing but my stepdad has a pension that puts them over the threshold.

This is the main reason there was the furore over the winter fuel payment and the level it was set because people on pension credit were better off, if it had been set a bit higher at about £16k to £20k they wouldn't have had to u turn.

My young adult DS has autism and learning disability and will never be able to earn a living. He will have to rely on Pension Credit when he reaches retirement age. I think that he should receive enough for a dignified and secure life, just as every other pensioner should.

By 70 you have had the opportunity of 50 working years or claiming carers credits. If you choose to do neither then you shouldn't qualify for payment.

I really don't understand the point of view of the original poster. The state pension is designed to stop old people from destitution. It's not supposed to give a decent level of retirement. Even the minimum lifestyle (£13,400pa) according to the Retirement Living Standard (https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/) is more than the full new state pension.

Pension credits or not, it's irrelevent. If you want to meet or exceed the minimum quality of retirement, then you'll need private savings or cash released from property downsizing in order to achieve this.

As for myself (age 45), I'm of the generation who spend much of their working lives during the time when all the Defined Benefit pensions had dried up, but Auto-Enrolment pensions hadn't come in, so I need to make up for lost time. All is not lost, £100 per month into a stocks and shares ISA should get me around £188k come age 68, which would be useful. Plus my pension is slowly creeping up and may yield something meaningful in the next 23 years or so.

Either way, the difference between pension credits and the full state pension shouldn't be an issue because it was never designed to provide comfort in retirement, just existence.

You can have more than £10K in savings. The first £10K is ignored then savings over that amount is counting as income (£1 for every £500)

Yes, true. I shouldn't have been so shocked as the threads here have explained how average pay workers can end up worse financially than those on benefits but I thought with no child benefit etc. it wouldn't be a thing come pension time.

That’s so disgusting! Hopefully not true

Or you paid into a private pension and then the company went bust. Are ppl meant to be time travellers now and travel forward in time to check and see if a company will go bust so when they time travel back again they know whether to pay it in or not

This is the situation my mother is in. Worked a minimum wage job, has a tiny pension, very small savings.

Yes.

Agreed. Post welfare reform this doesn’t happen anymore

Yes, and they should and actually can convert them to savings. There’s a “small pot commutation” rule that allows up to three pension pots of up to £10k each to be taken entirely as a lump sum. It’s to avoid the admin burden of paying out a few pounds a month.

Those living standards are way OTT. 43k net for a couple when you don't have mortgage or kids is only meant to be a 'moderate' retirement!

Most people aren’t net contributors to the system. So if you’ve worked all your life but also spend your time in and out of hospital should your state pension be docked compared to someone who has worked much less but never had a day of bad health? It’s a ridiculous suggestion of course.

We all live together and share resources. The system isn’t perfect but suggesting that those who haven’t worked enough receive less basic support than those who have is Victorian in its disregard for one’s fellow man. Why not bring back the workhouse and be done with it? That would save a few bob.

My parents (both in their 80s) can’t claim any Pension Credit, because my mum has a tiny private pension from a part time job she left about 45 years ago. They would be better off if she hadn’t had that job or paid into the pension scheme.