Yes Joelsnan, the state pension in the UK is one of the lowest in the EU. I recently saw a news article on television, can’t say whether it was BBC or not, but it was about state benefits. A lady was on complaining about her benefits which totalled £205 per week for herself and her one child. This amount did not include her housing costs, her rent and Council Tax were paid in addition. Her £205 weekly benefit comes out at £10,660 per year. If her housing costs were in addition the amount would be considerably more. Now, my point is this, if a lady with one child needs more than £205 per to live on, why do pensioners not need that much. Obviously many pensioners have paid for their homes already so they wouldn’t have large housing costs, but some have rent to pay, and others have large ‘service charges’ to pay for the upkeep of their sheltered apartment building.
I have a professional pension alongside my state pension, but many pensioners do not have another pension. I know they can claim pension credits, but surely they shouldn’t need to. Surely pensions should be set at a level that affords them the dignity of not having to claim another benefit.