£610 a week pension demand is insane

[Thisismyfinesthour]

Just read that there is an online petition doing the rounds for a £610 a WEEK pension demand to the government.
WTAF? Is the heat melting some peoples brains? It seems over 5000 have signed it.
Where do they think the money is coming from?

We do pay some of the lowest pensions in Europe.but tbh pensioners have the triple lock and with a growing ageing population the state pension as it stands isnt afforable.
I am in my 60s and I do feel envious of women who could recieve the State Pension at 60.
My children have it tough with the cost of housing, paying back a massive student loan as he got the maximium grants as we were on average income. I would prefer any taxes to be spent on the younger generation as they are this countries future rather than massive increases in pension.
I agree were would the extra come from?

Anyone could have started that petition@Thisismyfinesthour probably not even a pensioner. Surely a wind-up as it quotes 48 hours as well. As for wealthy, I’ve gone without to maximise my pension contributions so hopefully can draw a larger amount. But it could all plummet tomorrow for all I know and I can’t afford to retire early - will have to keep earning to bridge the time between current age and pension age (67).

😂 I've got time to make sure I'm getting the best deals. I batch cook which saves a lot. I live in a fairly modern 2 bed semi which is well insulated and south facing. I use comparison websites about a month before renewal dates as recommended by Martin Lewis.

Thank you. Sorry if you thought I was judging you. You’re doing great 😊

No problem. I'm not the sensitive type 😂

Statutory maternity pay began in 1977

Maternity allowance began in 1948. I got it in 1975.

My scruffy little house ( I love it, but it needs a smarten up) is worth about £120,000 at best. It would cost me more if I moved,even to a smaller place.
I'm still working at 77,the state pension is very frugal indeed. I know it's time to retire as my health is not what it was.I certainly don't think we should expect such a huge increase it's not doable at all, but a larger pension would give me a few years of easier living,time with the family and to follow a few modest dreams of my own.
I don't know any wealthier pensioners, but many are comfortable. I'm sure they didn't start out like that though.

@BigAnne Not entirely true You may have paid full NI all your working life, but if you are still paying rent after you retire, then you will almost certainly be eligible for pension credit to help you with that. (Note that pension credit will NOT pay ALL of your rent, though.)

@NullaEffugium The school leaving age was raised to 16 from 1972. So that covers anyone born from 1956 onwards, who would now be 70yo or older.

@SummerDive Well, I think many people might say: if you're in that position you could sell the £850k property, buy something for (say) £400k, and even after moving costs, etc. you'd still have a sizeable chunk of money left to live on.

@DdraigGoch But what about pensioners who don't own their own homes and are still paying rent?

I guess you live somewhere posh then. There are plenty of poor pensioners. Pensions in uk are lowest in Europe.

This will never be approved. The State Pension is already unaffordable to the government as is (aging population + people entering the workforce later), hence the reduction to/removal of certain aspects of this in the last 10-15 years - e.g. partially inheritable by spouse, worsening benefits to defer, continued discussion around reviewing the triple lock.

The government have long implied the State Pension is to provide a base level of income only and should be supplemented with private provision (hence, tax relief on private contributions and auto-enrolment rules).

Increasing the State Pension would also likely result in mass group pension opt outs (and declining private pension savings), reducing investment via funds into the UK economy which is the opposite of what labour (and probably any future government) are aiming for with their budget plans.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

Not everyone has an occupational pension. Lucky you. A lot of women in particular worked in low pay, part time jobs, in order to look after their children. We didn't have help with childcare. In fact until 1975 a lot of companies forced women to leave if they got married or had a baby. I think you'll find a lot of the "rich" pensioners worked in the public sector, or for good private companies all of their working lives and left with a fantastic pension.Most pensioners were not that lucky. Some of us had several different jobs during our lifetime due to closures and redundancies, including periods of unemployment. Not everything is the same all over the UK.

One way of putting the bonkersness of this petition into context is to consider how much an index linked annuity starting at 60 for a person with average life expectancy might cost. I’ve just queried this and got:
For a 60-year-old in the UK, a reasonable ballpark to fund £610 per week (about £31,720 per year) via an index-linked annuity is roughly £350,000–£430,000 invested upfront.

I see the petition is closed and didn’t meet the threshold for a response. Not many quite that delusional!

fwiw I’m recently retired when I got to 65 and I think it’s bizarre that we have ‘National Insurance’ contributions paid by workers and their employers - a tax on jobs! - rather than just a higher base rate of taxation (with a higher personal allowance as that’s been so eroded) payable by all including pensioners.

Yes I completely agree. It is very wrong that earnings from a job is taxed at a higher rate than income from property, pensions etc. Perverse. If anything it should be the other way around.

What about the pensioners who have paid a penny? My ex MIL went to Australia at 18 as a £10 pom after working for one year in UK. Returned to England at 22, pregnant and never worked since

I agree and have been saying it on MN threads for years. At the very least people should pay the same taxes on the same income levels, regardless of source, regardless of age. But yes, there should be higher taxes for "passive" income and lower taxes for workers in a perfect World.

610 would be fab. I would eat out % or 3 tomes a week. Have loads of weekend breaks. It would boost the economy as most OAPs would spend it, rather than hoard it. It would lead to loads of entry-level jobs for the young.

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She’ll get pension credit. What would you like to happen to her?

Right. So I would have been taxed at a lower rate for 43 years then taxed more when my income is lower?

Yes.and we also need to consider a difference in pensioners now in their late sixties and those in their late seventies. Lots of different things to affect how wealthy those people might be now.