Is the UK Basic State Pension adequate to meet a healthy and warm standard of living in late life?

It depends on many factors doesn’t it.
At the moment I have a husband so have two pensions. I am Still working part time so have some income there and have saved and invested over the years so have some private income too, so we are alright Jack.

However when I stop work, my husband dies and I use up the money I have invested I think it will be quite difficult.
The only way to have a reasonable lifestyle is to live in a very small property that is mortgage free. If I had to pay for council tax and rent I can’t see how I would manage at all.

My pension is about £680/month, at the moment my council tax is £268/month although if Mr J dies I would get a reduction!

As you say PamelaJ it depends an awful lot on people’s outgoings. Rent or mortgage is a massive part of a the new pension of £175pw let alone a smaller, old rules one.

The new pension will eventually benefit all women who retire at 67/68 in the future as it won’t depend on what their husbands get etc they’ll have earned it themselves. The pledge to increase it by a larger amount than other entitlements is to bring it in line with other European countries.

The trick is in keeping those outgoings as low as possible - not always easily done with life’s curve balls coming thick and fast. One being the increase from 65-66 being brought forward with less than a decade’s notice.

I'm 64 so don't yet get the state pension, I am however retired as I took early retirement . I was employed for 40 years in local government and contributed to that scheme. I worked full time despite having 2 children with all that entails because I knew that one day I would be able to leave with a pension and not have to depend on the state pension alone. I did a very stressful, difficult job. As it happens my DH also worked in local government so he too gets a pension.
I think the state pension is not enough , quite honestly I don't think it was ever intended to be enough to provide a decent income but was just a safety net to prevent absolute destitution and the workhouse. If you think about it that was the end result for a good many poor people prior to the 1908 pension act and the 1911 national insurance act that were building blocks for the welfare state.
Sadly there are huge numbers of people who didn't think about retirement at a young age or just couldn't afford to take out a private pension plan. I'm also sure that some of you will object to me having a local government pension . It seems that we are quite often the whipping boy because we are lucky enough to have been enrolled in the scheme . There was no choice in that when I started out , thank goodness. Believe me, I earned every penny of my pension! Quite honestly I think that the whole issue of a decent pension should be sorted out , I ,for one wish every person had a decent pension , enough to live on and enough for a few luxuries/treats , but if we don't should loud enough we will be ignored.

Right now at least pensioners/retirees are guaranteed an income whereas there are many who aren't so however large or small it's better than a poke in the eye with a big stick don't you think ?

I took early retirement at 50 due to ill health, I get my state pension in July. I've managed to live quite well since retiring, surviving on savings and taking my 2 company pensions at 55. I live in a 4 bed house that I bought twenty years ago and have no wish to move. I was mortgage free until I divorced my ex but had to buy him out of a house he'd never contributed a penny towards and pay the divorce fees accumulated in getting shot of him. I'm disabled and can't work but I live quite well, I certainly don't go without anything. I now know how much I will receive as state pension and quite looking forward to receiving it as it as it will be in addition to my current income, which I manage well on. I can't see I will have any problems I'll have an income of over 2k a month. Many people in work live on less. I always paid full stamp but my company pensions from separate companies don't cover my full working life, probably about half of it. I was glad to contribute to a pension scheme and think they should be compulsory, it's a great investment. Without my private pensions I'd have to live on around £600 per month instead of £2000.

The state pension was never meant to be the whole amount for a single/ married couple, but to be a help for paying the bills.We are all meant to save as much as possible and pay into a private pension where we can.
The state pension is much higher today in real terms, than it ever was, the triple lock has been so good.
There has been talk for a little while of it going mind you, but I hope not.

Anyone receiving the full state pension does not qualify for any pension credit top.

Pension credits are to top it up if for some reason your pension falls below the £175.

Someone with insufficient NI contributions and doesn’t qualify for the full amount receives the credit top up to meet the £175.

They then are better off as even having a few pounds of pension credit brings generous council tax reduction, free dental treatment, glasses etc

This country (as will many others) is going to have to make incredibly tough decisions in order to recover from the financial mess Covid has left behind.

I don't think anyone, working, unemployed or retired will come out unscathed.

That is not quite correct GrannyNW. If you do not have enough contributions for a full state pension, but do have a private or works pension however small or savings of a certain amount then you do not get a pension credit top up.

The biggest drain on funds when retired is housing. If you own your own home (excuse tautology) then life is easier because you don’t have rent to pay.

I’m speaking from personal experience Granny23 but I probably didn’t express it correctly.

The full state pension is £175 and if you have paid insufficient NI contributions to receive full pension then you will be topped up to the £175 level by pension credit if you have no other income.

However any other income such as private pensions and savings will affect this decision.

My understanding is that pension credit is to ensure that no one of pension age has a total income of less than £175.

So are you saying if someone’s income is a combination of a small private pension and less than the full state pension of £175 they will not receive pension credit even if their total income doesn’t reach £175?

I wasn’t aware of that and it does seem unfair

I was going to say pretty well what lemongrove has said.

We should all be making provision for our retirement when we are young. Even a relatively small amount saved each month would soon mount up into a sizeable sum if invested sensibly.

The state pension was only intended to be a top up.

Dh and I live very comfortable on a full state pension each and small private pensions each. However if one of us dies the picture will be very different.

At the moment there are 2 of us paying one set of household bills which leaves enough for a few little luxuries including holidays and occasional help for dd. Who ever is left will have the same household expenses on roughly half the income we now have. It will be manageable but the 'extras' we take for granted now might not be possible.
I think many pensioners in 2 people households find things a bit of a struggle when one dies and have to make some adaptions.

The state pension wasn’t intended as a “top up”‘, it was introduced in the early 20th century to avoid destitution. The “top up” idea is relatively recent and used as an excuse to keep the pension low. Our pensions are the lowest in Europe- that’s not something to boast about.

Flexible friend, you may live quite well on an income of £2000/ month but the question was - could you live on the state pension?

I was confused by that too Pamela

Don’t forget we don’t all get £175 per week, those who reached retirement before 2016 get a much reduced pension which I understand will travel parallel with the higher rate with no ‘catch up’.
The higher rate from 2016 was to include all the extra benefits which were previously claimed separately whether needed or not. Many on the lower rate do not claim their entitlement or come just over the benefit criteria. Or simply can’t face the aggravation. I know we older pensioners would be very happy with the new all embracing pension rate.

Pension in the UK is substantially lower than anywhere in Europe. Always has been, always will be and the triple lock has ensured a tiny annual rise because earlier the pension, already low, was getting lower and pensioners were dying in dreadful circumstances, not so very long ago.

The rate those of us who retired before 2016 is £134 per week.

It's an important part of the basic living wage debate. I support BLW as safety net, and serious taxation for people who have a lot of money.

In the current climate with all the money being paid out by the Government for the furlough scheme etc., it is pointless discussing whether the state pension is enough or not. I expect the triple lock to go. The Government is paying out billions that it did not plan for and this will be recouped somehow. We at least have more money than those on JSA and those on minimum wage with families paying rent and fares. I speak as a widow whose pension is not very high.

State benefits in the UK are lower than those of most of the EU. It is appalling the way in which some people, both young and old have to live. However, I would like to remind GNers that most of us have contributed towards the education and welfare of the generations behind us, in the same way as the generations before us contributed towards ours.

It should not be a case of young versus old because there are
wealthy people of all generations, as there are poor and we should all be trying to persuade governments to deal with poverty.

Please (some of you) don't tell me that you have worked for what you have. It is a tiny, tiny percentage of people who defraud the benefits system.

BlueBelle, if you were bringing up your children in the UK and receiving Child Benefit after some time in the late 70s (sorry, can't remember when it started), you should have been credited with contributions for those years and so you would have a full record. Is it worth your while checking up on that?

I'm living on a state pension. I wouldn't say it was easy and any unexpected large expense can completly throw things, but it's not terrible. I am in some ways better off than when I was younger and struggling to bring up 3 children on one wage with an ex husband who thought he should pay as little as possible for them. I am also conscious that there are people much worse off than I am. That poverty isn't just about benefits but about the huge costs of housing, travel and utilities combined with very low pay. And that it's families who suffer most. So no the basic pension isn't really enough but neither is JSA , £9 per hour, zero hours contracts or any of the other ways poverty is maintained in the UK

Sorry I thought I made it plain by giving figures but clearly not...ooops. Of course living on 2k a month I shouldn't have any difficulties. I don't currently receive my state pension but will do soon. As it is I'm doing very well and saving quite a bit each month, Obviously if my income was to be just the state pension So down to just £600 a month then I wouldn't have been able to stay in my house and would struggle. I'm so thankful my dad taught me to be self reliant and I had jobs that offered a decent pension for at least half of my working life. Yes I had to pay for that pension and was happy to do so even though I massively doubted I'd ever reach pension age as neither parent got anywhere near their pension. I do think company pensions should be compulsory because most people don't see the importance of saving for their old age until it's almost upon them. My largest pension is from a job I stayed in for 11 years in my 20's and 30's imagine what that would be worth had I stayed in it for life or even until I gave up work at 50. We should all have that kind of pension to look forward to but we don't.

I would imagine they might think about abolishing the triple lock, but will seriously weigh this up due to the fact that it affects a lot of their voters. Personally, in the circumstances, I think it should be abolished. The younger generation have made a lot of sacrifices to protect us elderly, so we must give something back. Everyone's circumstances are different at retirement. Most of us rely on a cocktail of state pension, occupational pensions, savings and investments. If you don't have those then the State safety net kicks in - and I personally think it is an adequate one - top up to £175 per week plus council tax and rent paid by the State. We all live our lives according to our own decisions - I do wonder if some people actually ever consider what will happen to them when they retire, as they seem to make very little financial preparation. Whatever decisions, or not, you make during your lifetime have a massive impact on the type of retirement you have. One example of this is opting for the Married Woman's NI rather than paying full National Insurance, then being surprised that you don't have your own state pension. However one area where the Government completely reneged on their responsibilities was with the WASPI debacle - absolutely disgusting to move women's state pension age back further. And as for them using the excuse of austerity - this has obviously now been completely exposed as a falsehood.
Many people, like me, relied on their occupational pensions to keep them going in the interim. Other woman have been severely penalised by having to work on in very physically demanding jobs until their state pension age kicks in. It will be very interesting to see how this Government (if you can call it that) handle the situation.