State pension

Aaaaaa22

I would like to find out why only people who get Universal credit or pension credit will get this 900.00 help with cost of living from April ..
It will be three payments of 300.00.

Pension credit is a top up... 
 Only 12.00 lower than the full.state pension .. 

So people like myself that has worked hard for 50 odd years and get full state pension (12.00 more per month that's all) than those on pension credit will not get any help will not get the 900.00 ????

How can we try sort this out as it's crazy if I had not worked hard all those years I would be entitled to pension credit and the 900.00 ?

sheramber

You are not the first to put forward that complaint.

Those with just £1 more a month get no help either.

It is Government policy , so put your complaint to your MP.

Margaret1920

i agree entirely.I don't even get the full sate pension. I have 47 years contributions but as they were prior to the new state pension  I am told that 1 year in the old sheme does not equal 1 year in the new scheme but I can't  find out anywhere what it is worth.  I retired at the age of 62 in 2016 living on my works pension and savings for 3 years until I qualified for sate pension. To top up my pension to the maximum I would have to pay £2300 and hope I have a long life.

molerat

Margaret1920 said:

i agree entirely.I don't even get the full sate pension. I have 47 years contributions but as they were prior to the new state pension  I am told that 1 year in the old sheme does not equal 1 year in the new scheme but I can't  find out anywhere what it is worth.  I retired at the age of 62 in 2016 living on my works pension and savings for 3 years until I qualified for sate pension. To top up my pension to the maximum I would have to pay £2300 and hope I have a long life.

3 years is all you need to live to get it back gross, a bit longer if you pay tax.  Buying additional years is really a bit of a no brainer.

It is not a simple case of what each year is worth.  You likely have a contracted out pension so you started off under the old existing pension rules as that was higher than you were entitled to under the new.

p00hsticks

Aaaaaa22 said:

I would like to find out why only people who get Universal credit or pension credit will get this 900.00 help with cost of living from April ..

This simple answer is that both Pension Credit and Universal Credit are means tested benefits, and so targeting those is a relatively simply way of trying to get a limited pot of money to those most in need. 

As other benefits such as State Pension are not means tested, whilst some recipients such as yourself may not be terribly well off at all, others might be multi-millionaires, and there is no easy way to differentiate between the two cases and all the others in between. 

Recipients of non-means tested benefits in demographics who may be affected more than others such as the disabled on PIP and State Pensioners have already received Cost of Living Payments last year and will be getting them again this year.

The issue of those pensioners falling just above the level to be eligible for Pension Credit being worse off that those who just manage to claim it due to the 'passporting effect' of getting that benefit is well known. As sheramber says, your MP is the person to contact if you think something needs to be done to address it, as any changes would need to be in legislation. 

p00hsticks

Margaret1920 said:

I am told that 1 year in the old sheme does not equal 1 year in the new scheme but I can't  find out anywhere what it is worth. 

Under the old scheme you needed 30 years to achieve the basic state pension (current worth £142).

 Additional years earned above that wouldn't get you any extra unless you had been 'contracted in' and so paying into the SERPS/S2P additional state pension schemes.

 The new scheme is much simpler - every NI year creditted since then earns you 1/35th (£5.29) of the maximum new State Pension amount until you eithe reach the maximum £185.15 or State Pension Age, whichever comes first.

suelizab

I get full pension so not entitled to anything else . if you get the lower ,then pension credit also entitles you to have council tax wiped off.  for £12 more I have to pay a minimum extra of £27 week council tax .  still, we are in for a windfall soon when we have our pension rise next month .

Alice_Holt

suelizab said:

I get full pension so not entitled to anything else .

   What about the £500 winter fuel payment:
https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/how-much-youll-get

Bigwheels1111

I’m a full time carer and dedicated the last 10 years looking after my best friend.
I get nothing extra, just £70 a week.
Because I worked hard and have savings. I get screwed to.

TELLIT01

If I had a fiver for every time I heard a similar complaint when I worked at DWP I could have had some very nice additional holidays.  It seems a valid argument, but there is nothing any of the 'benefit suppliers' for want of a better term can do about it.  The limits are set in Government legislation and only they can amend them.

Some years ago, after my mother died, my brother moved into supported housing and tried to get help with his rent.  A very nice lady went through all the figures with him and his income was just over £1 per week above the limit.  He had to pay full rent, council tax etc.  There is no way that is fair, but them's the rules.

Pollycat

Aaaaaa22 said:

I would like to find out why only people who get Universal credit or pension credit will get this 900.00 help with cost of living from April ..
It will be three payments of 300.00.

Pension credit is a top up... 
 Only 12.00 lower than the full.state pension .. 

So people like myself that has worked hard for 50 odd years and get full state pension (12.00 more per month that's all) than those on pension credit will not get any help will not get the 900.00 ????

How can we try sort this out as it's crazy if I had not worked hard all those years I would be entitled to pension credit and the 900.00 ?

You lobby your MP.

As previously said "It is Government policy , so put your complaint to your MP."