State pension

That's the way this country works Chris I am afraid,

Look at all the lazy sods who don't want to work but are happy to live on benefits,

I know you are like me and would find it hard to be out of work and would do anything to find a job,

You will do what is best for you and your family but some don't give a fig.

Quoted from Grim74

No they are carrying out the first rule of government to protect its citizens, which is why we are not seeing these kind of attacks in Eastern Europe.

If the attacks were being carried out by refugees from Syria and Iraq, you might have a point. They aren't, so you don't.

Quoted from Maringer

If the attacks were being carried out by refugees from Syria and Iraq, you might have a point. They aren't, so you don't.

I think there has been several car bombs going off in Iraq over the last few years so they are not immune from the problem.

Quoted from grimsby pete

That's the way this country works Chris I am afraid,

Look at all the lazy sods who don't want to work but are happy to live on benefits,

I know you are like me and would find it hard to be out of work and would do anything to find a job,

You will do what is best for you and your family but some don't give a fig.

I'll always work and provide for my family Pete, I pride myself on this, I'd do any job to provide for my Children & Wife, it does pay off though Pete (children seeing their parents work) because Harry has got a gardening job at 16 and loves it, he starts college in September and can't wait to work full time, we've instilled good morals to our children (I hope!😎)

I'm just concerned about the state of the future state pension, will the state pension be about then? Irrespective of one paying his/her full N/I contributions, I just can't see it myself, but who knows Pete.

Quoted from cmackenzie4

Putting into a pension is a must now Pete but my main concern is that those of us who do will get penalised and get a lesser state pension than somebody who has not contributed to a private pension.

I know a friend who gets his state pension topped up with pension credits (which entitles him to other things too)  yet my other friend who gets a private pension is penalised, my friend who has a private pension is better off but only by £45.00 a week yet he contributed to it for 33 years

You've raised a valid point there Chris, you have a personal pension you lose out, not just at pensionable age but also before you become a person of leisure. When I left the forces I couldn't get the sort of work I wanted to do, so I went on a course and tried to claim job seekers, because I got a small HM Forces pension all I was entitled to was having my stamped paid, I didn't get JSA. Also ironically because my wife claimed the family credits thing by the time I got into work we had claimed £1,400 of which we had to pay every penny back due to that tax year and in that period I got work to the April I had paid exactly £1,400 in tax.

Also my dad died quiet young but he took out a pension through work so my mum got a pension to look after me and my brother but that was reduced when we were 16. My step dad was a fireman but retired through ill health and when he died my mum got a part of his pension, so she gets 2 small pensions and a state pension which takes her above the poverty line. She then gets taxed which takes her below the poverty line but because she is above to start with she isn't entitled to anything.

I have like I said a Forces pension that I will be able to claim in full at 55, I am currently paying into a pension with my job now which I can claim at 62 I think, I believe in the future the state pension will be means tested and because I will have 2 reasonable pensions, I won't be able to claim it so I may end up retiring early.

That is exactly my point Dave, I'll be getting a forces pension too but only a small one due to the minimal time served compared to you, it just seems a bit odd that the Government are now forcing companies to provide a private pension for their employees, there must be a reason for that other than what they say in having more money in your older years, maybe I'm a cynic but I don't think that is the main reason do you mate? it's got to become means tested surely! I'm sure I read somewhere that within the next 25-30 years there will be the highest percentage of the population at 67-68 than there ever as been  (this is our age group Dave 47 upwards)

I have a decent pension on the railway which I can have a lump sum option ( various options) at 60 and I've decided that I will be taking the full lump sum with a reduced pension, is this what you are doing?

How did the increased state pension age affect you Dave? I'm 67 January 2037 so just made the cut off, people who were born after 5th April 1970 will have to work till 68 to claim state pension (if still exists) I feel sorry for the younger generation now mate, imagine what it's going to be like for them in years to come.

Quoted from cmackenzie4

That is exactly my point Dave, I'll be getting a forces pension too but only a small one due to the minimal time served compared to you, it just seems a bit odd that the Government are now forcing companies to provide a private pension for their employees, there must be a reason for that other than what they say in having more money in your older years, maybe I'm a cynic but I don't think that is the main reason do you mate? it's got to become means tested surely! I'm sure I read somewhere that within the next 25-30 years there will be the highest percentage of the population at 67-68 than there ever as been  (this is our age group Dave 47 upwards)

I have a decent pension on the railway which I can have a lump sum option ( various options) at 60 and I've decided that I will be taking the full lump sum with a reduced pension, is this what you are doing?

How did the increased state pension age affect you Dave? I'm 67 January 2037 so just made the cut off, people who were born after 5th April 1970 will have to work till 68 to claim state pension (if still exists) I feel sorry for the younger generation now mate, imagine what it's going to be like for them in years to come.

Born March 1970 so just made it but the wife was born 72 so comes under the new ruling. I took the gratuity from the Forces pension, which gets deducted from my full pension until I'm 55 then it goes back to where it should be. If they means test the pension when we come to retire and I don't get it, what's the point of working till you drop, I'll either work to keep busy or retire as soon as I can. What they are doing doesn't feel right, you pay in all those years and then they change the goal posts. I know they have to fund it but this is where they should review the taxation on wages. Insurance tax, Tax and then Pensions tax,  part of which could be drawn from companies or maybe just get the corporation tax right with the likes of Amazon and the others that cook the books to pay less tax elsewhere.

Quoted from cmackenzie4

I feel sorry for the younger generation now mate, imagine what it's going to be like for them in years to come.

As you alluded to, there might not be a state pension and if there is, the way the threshold is increasing you probably won't be able to claim it until your 70's/80's. I predict a future of increasing unemployment in the over 60's/70's and increased uptake in JSA in that age group. I'm 39 and I've got a workplace pension and even though I've increased the contributions it still seems a bit minuscule but at least it's something. I'm definitely in a minority of people my age and younger taking up the workplace pension, within my department of 12 only 3 of us are enrolled. Throw in increased automation, A.I and all that and I'm thinking we need something genuinely radical to avoid dark times in 20/30 years.

Guys I've read the last half dozen or so posts and would like to offer some explanation of what you are dealing with.
This is completely apolitical but it is in any Governments interests to reduce the pension burden on the state. The pension you describe that your friend is on sounds very much like the pension equivalent of Income Support. The rationale behind Income Support and this benefit called Pension Credit is that the law identifies a minimum income that people need to live on. The sort of people who may qualify for it are those without full N.I.records due to long periods of illness or unemployment. meaning they do not get a full state Retirement Pension. Means tested means that all other types of income are taken into account so,usually a small private pension is enough to ensure someone doesn't qualify.
Anyone who does qualify is deemed to have a pension income of below the minimum required to live on and therefore attracts entitlement to fringe benefits. HOWEVER in reality currently at least most fringe benefits like free NHS dentistry eye care etc are not income bound but are aged related. In years to come the Government are hoping that the state provision plus employment related pensions will give people an income way above the minimum.
The big battle that went on throughout my 30 odd years working in Social Security is what to do about people who can apply and receive their pension from work way before the state retirement age. These include your ex service personnel such as yourselves firemen policemen etc. etc. Personally I have no issue with people who retire from such professions early and get their pension but the receipt of it means that entitlement to a range of state benefits is greatly reduced or in some cases like Dave totally obliterated. The whole issue of government employee pensions and the astronomical cost over the years is why successive governments have tried to mess about with retirement ages and why firemen etc. are being told work past fifty.

Quoted from grimsby pete

I think there has been several car bombs going off in Iraq over the last few years so they are not immune from the problem.

Syria is in the middle of a civil war and so is Iraq in all but name. Their bombings are rather different to the attacks in this country and elsewhere in the west!

Anyway, how did we manage to get so far off topic!?!