State pension

I started paying into the steelworks pension scheme as a young sprog and after 40 years was lucky enough to take early retirement at 56.
I took what they called rule 11 which as far as I recall means my annual pension is topped up by a few thousand but when I get to state pension age I'll get very little or none as it's sort of borrowed off it.
It roughly balances out, gives you more cash when you're younger but you don't get the extra state pension when older.
I think it works out that the sooner I die, the more I gain, or something like that.

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.

My point being Western Europe has been open to mass immigration from Muslim countries. Are you going to deny there is no link between the terrorist atrocities and mass immigration over the recent decades, you have to agree with any number of Muslim let into a country there will be an element of extremists!

More muslims more extremists more terror attacks it's just a fact, which is why Countries  like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have rightly said no!

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.

The terrorist in Finland last week was a recent (2015) refugee (failed asylum seeker actually).

Quoted from KingstonMariner

The terrorist in Finland last week was a recent (2015) refugee (failed asylum seeker actually).

Also two of the men who carried out the Paris attacks in 2015 was believed to be Syrian, there was a Syrian passport found near one of the dead terrorists body, and there fingerprints matched those of a men who arrived on the Greek island of Leroy claiming to be  syrian refugees.

Syrian refugee killed a pregnant woman and wounded two people in German city Reutlingen.

Syrian refugee wounded 15 people when he blew himself up outside music festival in Ansbach Germany.

Also the terrorist mastermind of the Bataclan theatre used the migrant flow to escape detection when returning from jihadi training in Syria.

Genuine question. Current rules state if you don't have sufficient NI contributions you won't get state pension. If this is the case, what will all the scroungers who haven't worked and contributed into the system,live on. Probably by receiving a previously mentioned "citizens allowance" for sitting on their arses all their lives. Not a great incentive for pension savers is it?

Quoted from ponnyfan

Genuine question. Current rules state if you don't have sufficient NI contributions you won't get state pension. If this is the case, what will all the scroungers who haven't worked and contributed into the system,live on. Probably by receiving a previously mentioned "citizens allowance" for sitting on their arses all their lives. Not a great incentive for pension savers is it?

Apparently they get there’s paid by signing on or receiving benefits, my wife was self employed for 15 years and earnt very little (not enough to pay national insurance contributions) yet she will not receive a full state pension now due to this (missed years) yet she’s never claimed benefits or been out of work, she had to work part time due to family issues and chose working instead of signing benefit (not that she’d have been entitled to it anyway due to my income) but I think you get my point.

I rang the DWP for my wife when they said she was 15 years short in her contributions and told them about her circumstances that she didn’t earn enough they said “why don’t you pay her stamp?” I couldn’t believe it, I pay over £450 every 4 weeks in contributions as it, sometimes more, put it this way I have nearly £20,000 a year deducted from my pay in tax, N/I and my works pension, my works pension equals £3,000 of this amount so £17,000 in tax and N/I, don’t get me wrong I’ll pay my fair share but the system is very unfair indeed, I’m a middle earner earning between £50, 000 and £60,000 but I don’t feel well off at all.

Exactly Chris, my position is similar. Contributions taken from benefits what a joke. No work ethic, no motivation, should equal no benefit unless health related. Absolute joke.

My fear is the state pension becoming means tested, it surely has to in years to come, so the likes of us who pay into a private pension through work etc will be penalised, like I’ve said before I know people who are in receipt of their state pension and also receive pension credits, I also know people who are in receipt of their state pension and also receive a private pension but are not much better off than those who contributed nothing to a private pension, unless your well off and can make large contributions to a private pension then what’s the point, I’m coming up to 48 and in the next 20 years I can see things changing big time.

Quoted from ponnyfan

Exactly Chris, my position is similar. Contributions taken from benefits what a joke. No work ethic, no motivation, should equal no benefit unless health related. Absolute joke.

I do not think a healthy person should be given benefits without doing some kind of work for them,

When I was in Grimsby there was a community programme for the unemployed to get them back to work,

That should be in use today and should never have been stopped,

There are plenty of good causes and charity work that could be done by the unemployed,

Picking the dog sh it up could be one  

The ones that have a illness or disability should be treated differently but no excuse for  the healthy people not doing something for their benefits.

That's in effect what they did in the Soviet Union Pete. There was no such thing as unemployment. So no dole. Everyone received a wage, but you had to work. Even if half the jobs were made up and wouldn't exist in a market economy.