Is the State Pension a Benifit?

Shmichael

The DWP has apparently reclassified the state pension as a Benifit.
I am a full time carer for my wife and I am entitled to Carer's Allowance.  BUT   The Disability and Carers Service have refused to pay the allowance because I am a Pensioner.

The DWP justified this in a letter as follows.  (dates and amounts omitted)

"Payment of Carer's Allowance is affected by certain other social security benifits that are paid at an ammount equal to or higher than Carer's Allowance.  Payment of these other benifits will reduce the amount of Carer's Allowancr that can be paid, or will stop it being paid altogethjer.  This applies to your claim.

You are entitled to (amount) a week from (date)
We cannot pay from (date).  This is because the amount of State Pension you get is more than the amount of Carer's Allowance we could pay you."

Clearly they have classified the State Pension as a benifit.  This cannot be right.   It is NOT a Benifit.   I paid contributions for over 40 years, including SERPS and the State Pension is based on Contributions paid..

I appealed but they will not change this ruling.

Seems they have come up with a way of depriving Pensioners of benifits.

Are they right or are we being cheated?

zagfles

This has always been the case. It's the law, take it up with your MP if you think the law should be changed. When it was first introduced in 1976, you couldn't even make a new claim for CA once over the age of 65 regardless, even if you had no entitlement or a reduced entitlement to the state pension.

QrizB

Shmichael said:

The DWP has apparently reclassified the state pension as a Benifit.

It's hardly a hindrance, surely?

eskbanker

https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility

If you get State Pension

You cannot get the full amount of both Carer’s Allowance and your State Pension at the same time.

If your pension is £67.60 a week or more, you will not get a Carer’s Allowance payment.

If your pension is less than £67.60 a week, you’ll get a Carer’s Allowance payment to make up the difference.

Aretnap

The State Pension has always been a benefit. The fact that your entitlement is linked to your National Insurance Contribution record is neither here nor there; the same is true of Jobseekers Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and plenty of other benefits which nobody ever objects to calling benefits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Insurance#Benefits

Pensioners might not like to think of themselves as living on benefits if they think of the word "benefits" as equivalent to "dole scrounger", but in fact living on benefits is actually precisely what they're doing.  

[Deleted User]

Yes.  Benefit is something paid out of taxation.  State pension in the UK is a benefit. Governments get to decide how to spend taxes. 

In some other countries state pension is funded using investment proceeds from individual contributions.  Arguably that’s not a benefit.  

xylophone

but in fact living on benefits is actually precisely what they're doing.  

They are living on the benefit of the pension for which (in most cases) they contributed/paid tax throughout their working lives.

And talking of benefits.......Defined Benefit Pension Scheme...... the members of the scheme benefit in retirement from the contributions ( or quasi contributions in the case of non-contributory schemes) made during their working lives......

comeandgo

You are misinformed.  Of course the state pension is a benefit.

zagfles

Aretnap said:

The State Pension has always been a benefit. The fact that your entitlement is linked to your National Insurance Contribution record is neither here nor there; the same is true of Jobseekers Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and plenty of other benefits which nobody ever objects to calling benefits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Insurance#Benefits

Pensioners might not like to think of themselves as living on benefits if they think of the word "benefits" as equivalent to "dole scrounger", but in fact living on benefits is actually precisely what they're doing.  

Besides which the state pension only has a vague link to what you paid in. You can get NI credits towards the state pension without paying anything in, and now with the new flat rate pension, whether you get free credits or whether you pay £10k in NI, you get the same entitlement out.

SouthCoastBoy

Due to the tenuous link between amount paid in NI and amount received in state pension I wonder if it would be easier and cheaper to scrap all the bureaucracy and counting NI years, amounts etc. and just let everybody with an NI number  and proof of residency in the UK get the state pension once state pension age is reached.  

Vegastare

I think there maybe an assumption that Attendance Allowance would be claimed instead of Carers Allowance, but this is claimed by the person needing it and paid to them, and it applies to pension age claimants.  So if your wife is not of pension age and you are it could not be claimed.  

Hopefully someone will point out if I am correct with this.

Must admit I too find the word benefit an insult when I worked years paying NI, but there again if we are ill or out of work we have the ability to claim benefits so guess DWP see it as all in the same bag.