Your State Pension

[GrumpyGregry]

Depends on the nature of the items in question.

Crossed wires.

This report

http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn105.pdf

History of Sate Pension

Dates from 2010

 

[srw]

When did people start talking about state pension as a benefit?

In 1909, when it was first introduced.

 

[srw]

Because an entitlement to a benefit is not the same thing as the benefit itself? I'd prefer Retirement Compensation or some such myself.

I agree. Unemployment compensation and disability compensation sound so much better, too.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

In 1909, when it was first introduced.

I can't find a pdf of the 46 act on line but post-war amendments talk about "pensions and other benefits", and make reference to flat-rate contributions and flat-rate benefits.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I agree. Unemployment compensation and disability compensation sound so much better, too.

iirc Beveridge and the Attlee government both saw state pensions as an absolute poverty avoiding safety net for those too old to work. They saw them as a kind of unemployment benefit. Times have changed for much of the working population.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

No, no, no. People in common parlance.

I think that has changed over time. Was discussed as a benefit up until 30 - 40 years ago by my parents generation, and then morphed into a non-benefit as the baby boomers decided it was an entitlement along with everything else they have benefited from. Now some of us are trying to drag it back into being recognised and named as a benefit.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

iirc Beveridge and the Attlee government both saw state pensions as an absolute poverty avoiding safety net for those too old to work. They saw them as a kind of unemployment benefit. Times have changed for much of the working population.

I seem to remember that part of this was to remove people from the situation where they were still turning up for work when they barely had the strength to crawl out of their beds to start their shift.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I seem to remember that part of this was to remove people from the situation where they were still turning up for work when they barely had the strength to crawl out of their beds to start their shift.

Indeed. In a manual labour economy being unfit for work through illness, age or other infirmity was a disaster. Well it certainly was for my grandparents generation, and that of their parents, in the Great Northern Coalfield of Co. Durham from the late 1880's to the early 20's. One or two shifts away from the workhouse.

We generally don't know we are born.

 

[pawl]

I get a state pension after paying NI contributions.
I get a public sector pension after paying superannuation for over 40 years.
I think being labelled a benefits claimant is a bit harsh.

Agree. You and me both

 

[Haitch]

state pensions as an absolute poverty avoiding safety net for those too old to work

And as a sop to stop the lower orders revolting?

 

[Venod]

...but.... that is not quite correct. there is no investment pot you have contributed to out of which your pension will be paid. Your contributions have paid for current pension benefits paid to others, and you get a similar entitlement to be paid for by future contributions from others.

Yes I understand that, but if you don't pay enough contributions to help pay other peoples pensions this reduces how much pension you will receive.

 

[marinyork]

State pension age hasn't been specified yet for me or even for quite a few (a lot actually) people older than me, all we know is that it's at least 68. If you believe what one strand of thinking in the treasury had then it'd be 69 or maybe 70. If you believe other speculated about changes not enacted it'd be 71.

I think we'll see a period of reform in the 2020s and 2030s where the pension changes are again accelerated as happened to women born in the 1950s (but less harshly). On that basis it could be anywhere between 69 and about 73.

 

[screenman]

How much would a 65 year old have paid in?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Indeed. In a manual labour economy being unfit for work through illness, age or other infirmity was a disaster. Well it certainly was for my grandparents generation, and that of their parents, in the Great Northern Coalfield of Co. Durham from the late 1880's to the early 20's. One or two shifts away from the workhouse.

We generally don't know we are born.

We are supposed to be living in more enlightened times, but though we live in far better conditions than previous generations we still have poverty and people who are living in poor conditions, we still need food banks so they can eat. I live in Coventry and there are older people in the city who think Hitler did Coventry a favour by bombing it, their reasoning is that the bombing removed the old courts, the slum area's where people survived in very poor conditions, sadly the post war rebuilding included housing that would become the modern slum area's

 

[GrumpyGregry]

We are supposed to be living in more enlightened times, but though we live in far better conditions than previous generations we still have poverty and people who are living in poor conditions, we still need food banks so they can eat. I live in Coventry and there are older people in the city who think Hitler did Coventry a favour by bombing it, their reasoning is that the bombing removed the old courts, the slum area's where people survived in very poor conditions, sadly the post war rebuilding included housing that would become the modern slum area's

I agree. I was speaking generally. My experience of post-war housing is limited to the old New Towns. Paradise compared to where my parents lived before 1948 and still a very long way from slums; though not without social problems. Even in the leafy affluent 'Sham we have a significant homelessness problem, especially amongst the under 40's.