Insult or joke?

yes I just got my 25p, to be honest they can stick it where the sun don’t shine I m not well off like a lot of gransnetters but I don’t need anyone’s 25p thanks

It’s a residual payment linked only to the old state pension. It was introduced in 1971 when the pension was only £6 a week.

The addition has never been increased. It was specifically excluded from the statutory index linking provisions of the Social Security Act 1975 (now replaced by section 150 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992).

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00321/SN00321.pdf

It won’t be paid to anyone in receipt of the single tier pension, so any man born on or after April 6 1951, and women born on or after April 6 1953 who will turn 80 in six or eight years time respectively.

Moneybox Paul Lewis writing in the Radio Times February 2024:

It costs around £47 million a year to give it to the 3.6 million state pensioners over 80, and I can see the headlines now if the Government tried to take it away! However, I don’t imagine they’ll be raising it to [the current value of] £6.50 either (at a cost of over £1 billion a year). Not least because it’s a problem that will eventually go away: the 25p addition will not be paid with the new state pension when the first people who get that reach 80.

BlueBelle

yes I just got my 25p, to be honest they can stick it where the sun don’t shine I m not well off like a lot of gransnetters but I don’t need anyone’s 25p thanks

Gosh ! I am most terribly grateful for my 25p. I spend hours deciding how to spend it, or where to invest it. Endless conversations with DH as he has had 25p too.

Might have been better to just pay it and add it to the annual statement - bit of a waste of time and postage really.

Agree.

I got my 25p in february, I was going to buy myself a bar of chocolate, but I'll have to save my 25p for another couple of weeks for that,confused

Silerbrooks thank you for such a concise piece of information on this payment. I received mine a few years back, and knew about it in advance, but still find it so strange. Nothing anyone now says, when they receive it, has not already been said by others over the years.

Interesting to note what the amount would be if it had kept ties with inflation. Okay a pound a month is not going to help us much, but better than, say, a pound decrease each month.

You could buy a Freddo each week!

mumofmadboys

You could buy a Freddo each week!

I like Freddos. Can't wait for my 25p to arrive.

mumofmadboys

You could buy a Freddo each week!

😂

Ridiculous, the cost of postage exceeds the increase.

Exactly, Franbern and thank you.

A relatively small number of people are awarded the payment each year, that is, when they turn 80. On the basis that there are around 1.5 million people age 80-84 in the UK, so say a fifth turning 80 each year, say 300,000 - or fewer than 6,000 people a week.

The cost of stamp argument is silly as DWP is a bulk mailer, sending out thousands of letters each week and will be charged much less than the price of a 2nd class stamp per item, probably less than 30p an item.

It’s a one off notification so a one-off cost. Once the payment is embedded in the pension, it’s there until someone dies.

True, it’s only £13 a year extra pension but I can imagine the argument if someone said the DWP wouldn’t spend 30p a year to tell them they were entitled to it and pay it, which the DWP has a statutory i.e. legal responsibility to do.

The government could try cancelling it and save £47 million a year - and then face a similar PR disaster as removing universal Winter Fuel Payment did.

I'm ten years off 80 and won't ever receive it as it has been abolished for younger pensioners but if I did receive it, I'd think of it as an extra £13 a year that would pay my energy bill for a week in the summer.

harrigran

Ridiculous, the cost of postage exceeds the increase.

Yes, but sorting it out rather than letting it die would probably cost even more.

And there's the rub.

Live, eat Freddos and let die.

Which reminds me of one of our own GN dear departed. When she first mentioned Freddos I had no idea what they were! 🍫

I still don’t know what Freddos are😊. I assume some chocolate treat? Seems cheap.

Freddo's are Cadbury's Dairy Milk Frogs. Much loved by one of my granddaughters when she was little.

I had a note on the letter informing me of the general increase that I will receive an extra 25p very soon.

What's the matter with you all, personally I can't wait and I'm planning on how to spend it 😁
You just have to Google and a whole list of things I can buy in Gloucester for 25p has come up. Mind you, how much will it cost me to go to Gloucester?

This 25p nonsense should have been addressed long ago. I will write to my MP about it. He is a newbie and is very enthusiastic to get things done.

He might campaign to have it removed! 😯

I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself.

Yes, the 25p is a bit of a joke, but I have had a good laugh reading the comments.

Parsley3

This 25p nonsense should have been addressed long ago. I will write to my MP about it. He is a newbie and is very enthusiastic to get things done.

Don't forget to send a card in which you express your eternal grateful thanks .
Then book that holiday to Acapulco after you've bought a new wardrobe of designer clothes from Harrods

Parsley3

This 25p nonsense should have been addressed long ago. I will write to my MP about it. He is a newbie and is very enthusiastic to get things done.

It would cost more to adjust all the older style pension payment system, apparently, than it does to leave it be. 🤷‍♀️

I’d just think of it as a £13 bonus. Or at least it will be by the end of the year. Every little helps!