State pension rise

I think I'll get an increase of £50 per 4 weeks. I don't get the full State Pension due to being contracted out of a works pension earlier in my life.

I'm in the pssed off category that expected to get the SP at 60 but didn't, got it at 66.
However I retired at 60 on health grounds, with a work pension and a lump sum. I used the lump sum as income to augment the work pension until I was 66.

Not much in the way of savings but an adequate if not luxurious income.

Mind you, with the £50 increase my tax will go up and my housing benefit will go down but hey, only right. I'll do.

Ditto Waspi, got 18 months before I am eligible to claim. I do recall getting the letter years ago, but circumstances then were very different - I've been made redundant twice, divorced, sold the London home that was going to be our retirement fund in downsizing but with the split into 2 (him/me) funds have taken a big hit. I've never claimed unemployment and have always always relied on my fairly good health and education to keep myself in employment. I have chronic arthritis, inject myself weekly and am, frankly, bone-achingly tired.

I've had four friends die during 2021-22, my age, who won't be paid pensions. I wonder if there's a numbers study of who died during Covid who would have been eligible for pensions-?-

Indeed, Casdon. The rate will be set next month but won't be paid until April 2024. Anything can happen to the economy in the intervening six months.

growstuff the state pension is taxable income. Whether it is taxed depends on other income, of course. The fact that the full state pension for people qualifying after 6 April 2016 i.e. at the higher rate, is still £1766 lower than the tax threshold shows how low it is in real terms.

Sorry for your loss LondonMsFitz of your friends.. yes wonder where their hard working pension payments went- presumably back into Gov funds🤨

growstuff

Urmstongran

I’m grateful for it. Almost 70y and I’ve never had any inheritance (some of my peers have had thousands ££s). Bought new cars with it, gone on cruises etc. Always worked for what we have, never claimed benefits. As a WASPI I’ve had to wait for my SP. Thousands ££s out of pocket (about £36k I worked it out once). Yes ‘enhanced’ SP now but I’ll be 79y before I’m in pocket over what I would have had before the changes - if indeed I live that long! So yes thank you I’m happy to be given a good rise.

Will the triple lock stay?

I doubt it.

If you have average life expectancy, you will live that long.

For very sad reasons, my confidence regarding this has been badly shaken growstuff.

If I am not mistaken the personal allowance threshholds have been frozen (I think until 2027 but don't quote me on the exact time scales). This means that each year everyone will be paying more tax, even the most the poorly paid.

Not only have the allowance threshholds been frozen but also the amount you can earn in interest on savings without paying tax. You can currently earn £1k in interest tax free. Again this has not changed for a few years now, so not keeping up with inflation, Savings rates have risen along with the bank rates and so more people will be liable to pay tax on their interest earning.

The freezing of personal allowances and interest ceilings is a stealth tax which some people may not have noticed or be aware of.

So whilst both the pension rises and the interest rises might seem generous they aren't really. The pension rise means we are only standing still and those with savings will once again be clobbered for more tax.

There was a great deal of publicity about the rise in pension age. There’s no excuse for not having known it was going to happen.

The increase is linked to inflation Casdon, as I’m sure you know. It’s not like being awarded a salary increase because of good performance - we had those when we were working. Now those who are working pay for our state pensions.

Sorry meant to add.....because the personal allowance limits are frozen each year more and more people who were previously under the threshold will find themselves paying tax.

It's quite insidious but the effects will be far reaching. It will be those in receipt of fixed incomes who will feel it most.

Brahumbug

Well yes, the rise in April was 10.1%, you can't describe that as not generous.

It wasn’t a nice gesture given to us. Did you not notice the cost of living going up. It was our right.

Germanshepherdsmum you may have been fortunate enough to have heard in advance about the rise in pension age but many of us were not in that happy position. We aren't all stupid on here. 😑

This

Don’t you read newspapers?

Germanshepherdsmum

There was a great deal of publicity about the rise in pension age. There’s no excuse for not having known it was going to happen.

The increase is linked to inflation Casdon, as I’m sure you know. It’s not like being awarded a salary increase because of good performance - we had those when we were working. Now those who are working pay for our state pensions.

Yes, I realise that of course, but to claim it’s generous as Brahumbug did was wrong, because it isn’t.

It was our right because of the triple lock Meryl.

I am sorry to hear that. Because we are bombarded with far too much information, more than our brains can deal with on a daily basis, it seems that the opinions of everyone are everywhere and some to clamber to be on one side or another, giving little thought to others or outcomes. We find ourselves constantly under threat from one individual or groups. Sadly, this has also got into the school systems too. There is no accountability and a lack of independent thinking and what once were true and test qualifications. A large number of a certain age-group appear to believe they invented the wheel, and know everything there is to know about life and how we ought to live it. Where is the hierarchy that once garnered respect? I hope all pensioners will get some financial relief soon and in the future.

Discuss that with the Ombudsman. GSM

When the triple lock goes you’ll remember it as generous Casdon.

The state pension is not generous and should go up with inflation wherever possible. I appreciate it is not always possible to mirror inflation perfectly, just as wages and benefits can struggle to keep up. State pensioners paid into NI for decades to get their pensions. I do not think of it as a benefit. Many state pensioners have no extra income and are not fit enough to work to top up their pension.

Being reported that Hunt is thinking of “tweaking” the triple lock and not paying the full amount.

Whitewavemark2

Being reported that Hunt is thinking of “tweaking” the triple lock and not paying the full amount.

Well Sir Starmer is reported as saying he cannot guarantee the triple lock.

You have to wonder about the mind set of someone who can pocket three hundred pounds per day just for turning up in the House of Lords, being perfectly relaxed about other people living on not much over half that for a week, and saying that it can't be continued to rise in line with inflation.

GrannyGravy13

Whitewavemark2

Being reported that Hunt is thinking of “tweaking” the triple lock and not paying the full amount.

Well Sir Starmer is reported as saying he cannot guarantee the triple lock.

Well that doesn't surprise me in the slightest, from either of them.

Margiknot

The state pension is not generous and should go up with inflation wherever possible. I appreciate it is not always possible to mirror inflation perfectly, just as wages and benefits can struggle to keep up. State pensioners paid into NI for decades to get their pensions. I do not think of it as a benefit. Many state pensioners have no extra income and are not fit enough to work to top up their pension.

But the state pension is a benefit, whatever you think.

Why is there such a stigma surrounding the word benefit that some people go through mental hoops to deny the state pension for what it is?

Cutting the pension rise isn’t going to improve our standing in the world as far as benefits are concerned.

Germanshepherdsmum

When the triple lock goes you’ll remember it as generous Casdon.

No, I won’t, I’ll remember it as the period when pensions, whilst by no means generous, kept up with rising inflation and wages. That’s all they are doing.
It’s erroneous to suggest it’s generous because all it means is that people who have no other income don’t fall further behind. I’m very glad that I’m not in that position.