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?

It’s just the downside of having a welfare system where we don’t allow citizens to starve. Unfortunately there will always be a minority with little interest in supporting themselves and happy to have very basic lives on benefits. If you look at countries with very little support they don’t have 100% employment with all citizens hard working & providing for themselves. They have homeless beggars inc children, the elderly & disabled who rely on charity. I know which I prefer.
Eg Pakistan has estimated 331 homeless per 10k people compared to the UK with 56.1 per 10k. Estimates from 2023.

Can you state your figures as what you claim doesn’t make sense

There is a issue of pension credit being used as a passport benefit for a number of financial support schemes which had led to a bit of an issue between them and people only on the basic sate pension with little savings who may not be eligible for the same schemes.

Now that is not deliberate but rather a result of lazy policy making. What happens is there is an issue with certain groups not being able to afford something (dental care, council tax, TV license, energy bills etc..) These have to be funded by tax payer or other customers so policy makers look first at the socially acceptable groups that people will be happy to support - who are they - well generally it is agreed low income pensioners are worthy of extra help. How do you identify these low income pensioners, especially as pensioners notoriously do not like applying for fiancial support - well you have a easily defined group in those on pension credit and you can data match them. so bingo! Here is the easy, socially acceptable primary group for you financial support scheme.

Yep My DM paid the married womens stamp. You can so totally tell that some posters are under a certain age because they have probably never heard of this.

Did you know that over £2 BILLION pounds worth of allocated pension credit isn’t claimed EVERY year?

Those feckless bastards need to wake up and smell the free coffee don’t they?

The amount of unclaimed benefits , PC and others , including UC, not claimed is horrendous. The government is failing the poorest people in the country by not making more effort to get people out of poverty by making sure they are claiming the money they are ENTITLED to.

If people have money they will spend it, that money then goes back into the economic system, safeguarding jobs and employment, which in turn leads to revenue raised in taxation, which in turn takes children and others out of poverty, improves social conditions, makes neighbourhoods stronger and safer, provides employers with the confidence to expand , creating more jobs. Billions of pounds unclaimed does nothing for the economy, it is ringfenced so can’t be used for other purposes, it just sits there.

Exactly this. I cannot imagine a life in which I’m jealous of people who have spent their lives reliant on benefits, for whatever reason.

Pension credit is reduced for every £250 you have over £10,000 so I hope your Mum never relies on it or needs and house repairs

I quite agree. Comparison is the thief of.....something or other. It certainly never helps.

Jealousy and resentment are completely pointless, they eat away at you and achieve nothing. The situation remains in status quo.

At any point in our lives we will be aware that some are better off than us, often not because of their own efforts; there will also be some who are worse off. However every single person will face problems at some stage.

I don't want anyone to starve and am content with my lot, which is not a lot but I am OK. As long as my health holds up, no complaints.

If it exists when I get to that age then I will be on pension credit. I have not been able to work for a long time and when I did it was low paid.
I would be on the same money I am on now in UC. I have to watch every penny and will get no respite from that once I hit late 60s especially seeing as I would still be under constant scrutiny from the DWP about what money I have an how I spend it.
Someone eligible for pension credit would not have been living a great life in the lead up to it.

What might be alarming, in a few years time, is that the state pension is subject to income tax and pension credit isn't. So, if they both keep rising, and with frozen personal tax allowances, pension credit could eventually be higher than post-tax retirement pension.

My DGF born in 1912 had an occupational pension. He was a factory worker & before that a miner. So occupational pensions did exist in the private sector post WW2 for some working class workers.

Yes this, but let's not put facts in the way of frothing eh.

Of course they did but anyway there was never anything to stop somebody taking out a private pension independently. They only had to ask an insurance company how to do it. Plenty of people did that.

I can see where you're coming from OP, but, this is how a democratic, fair society works in my opinion.
Those who can, pay in for the benefit of everyone, not just those they see as 'deserving'.

I've paid loads of tax over the year. My DH is a higher rate tax payer so pays lots of tax. We don't claim benefits for anything because we don't need to but presumably our tax contributions help support those less fortunate.

I'm sure there are some who are milking the system but that's not a good enough reason to begrudge the majority in need who aren't.

I'm no bleeding heart leftie either, I've voted for them all (bar snp and Reform) over the years.

I also think we should be all paying more tax AND businesses shouldn't be able to tax dodge (looking at you Amazon).

I agree, there was a social assumption that women would benefit from their husbands contributions, and continue to do so if he died.

There was also the expectation that women stayed at home and looked after their children and the home and that that contribution, in terms of children’s well being, and good nutrition had a positive effect on the Nation. And to throw a spanner in the works, when you look at the number of poorly fed, overweight, fed on processed food, anxious, feral children in our society today that could have been a bigger benefit than realised!

Where is the misinformation? You seem to be implying that it's not true that those who 'sit on their arse' all their lives don't get it?

Ha we have similar in our home. It's really really hard when you see it in action isn't it? FIL's partner worked for 1 year full time before she got pregnant at 18 then was furious that 'the job centre made me go back to work' when her youngest of 9 children left home, she worked 3 hours a day in a local shop for 3 years, & you would have thought she was working down the mines! She 'retired' as soon as she could so probably paid around 4 years 'stamp'. She has a lovely housing association bungalow, a little car & goes abroad every year. I don't want to see anyone living in poverty but she is literally better off then other people we know in their 70's who worked hard all their lives (mostly factory type work). YANBU!

In fairness I’m sure plenty of those only claiming a state pension and who have no other income/assets in their old age are unlikely to be overall net contributors. The ones who were overall net contributors likely have significant private pensions and do have a substantial gap in net income. So really it’s just a slightly different level of government subsidy.

I know a 75 year old who is working part time as only income is state pension. It’s enough to live on but can’t pay repairs to house so when the boiler went, she had to go back to work and one thing after another. Her neighbour gets pension credit and got a boiler for free/ solar panels/ batteries through some energy scheme.

No what she is saying is why should she work when she can stay at home and get more or less the same as those that have worked and made contributions.

edited to add what incentive is there to work in this case?

I found this on Gov.UK:
"Yes, you can get Pension Credit even if you own your home because the benefit is based on your income, not your assets like property. Eligibility is determined by your weekly income and savings, so owning a house does not automatically disqualify you from receiving Pension Credit. You may also be able to get extra help with housing costs, such as mortgage interest, while receiving Pension Credit."

That's a very good point from a financial viewpoint but on a societal level I think it's very important for citizens to contribute financially, even if their circumstances and/or abilities mean it will be a small amount. The State should show how this attitude is appreciated by differentiating between contributors and others.

When they move into rented accomodation, assuming they find a landlord who wants an unemployed or retired person, they will then get housing benefit.
You are spouting rubbish, come across as uneducated and you clearly haven't given anything you have written proper thought.

She can choose to do that, if she thinks their life is preferable to hers?