Is the State Pension enough to live on if you are single !!

BlackKnightMonty

badmemory said:

So yes you can survive on state pension & no other benefits under certain circumstances, like homeowning.  But personally I did not spend a long working life to live a life merely surviving.  I have been taking my state pension for over ten years now & know that my costs are more than they were.  Not the normal cost of living though.  It is those things that become more difficult.  Stupid little things like not being able to buy the larger & normally cheaper items that my arthritis make difficult to lift, having to buy cans of coke (yes I know I shouldn't) instead of bottles because of the difficulty getting the tops off.  Really, really dreading not being able to drive.

Why didn’t you make any provisions for yourself for your retirement?

no savings?
no private pension?
no employment pension?

badmemory

BlackKnightMonty said:

badmemory said:

So yes you can survive on state pension & no other benefits under certain circumstances, like homeowning.  But personally I did not spend a long working life to live a life merely surviving.  I have been taking my state pension for over ten years now & know that my costs are more than they were.  Not the normal cost of living though.  It is those things that become more difficult.  Stupid little things like not being able to buy the larger & normally cheaper items that my arthritis make difficult to lift, having to buy cans of coke (yes I know I shouldn't) instead of bottles because of the difficulty getting the tops off.  Really, really dreading not being able to drive.

Why didn’t you make any provisions for yourself for your retirement?

no savings?
no private pension?
no employment pension?

The whole point is that I did, otherwise I would be just surviving.  The question asked was can you survive on state pension, answer yes you can.

BlackKnightMonty

badmemory said:

BlackKnightMonty said:

badmemory said:

So yes you can survive on state pension & no other benefits under certain circumstances, like homeowning.  But personally I did not spend a long working life to live a life merely surviving.  I have been taking my state pension for over ten years now & know that my costs are more than they were.  Not the normal cost of living though.  It is those things that become more difficult.  Stupid little things like not being able to buy the larger & normally cheaper items that my arthritis make difficult to lift, having to buy cans of coke (yes I know I shouldn't) instead of bottles because of the difficulty getting the tops off.  Really, really dreading not being able to drive.

Why didn’t you make any provisions for yourself for your retirement?

no savings?
no private pension?
no employment pension?

The whole point is that I did, otherwise I would be just surviving.  The question asked was can you survive on state pension, answer yes you can.

Good stuff.

That’s the purpose of a SP; to provide a survivable backstop, it isn’t designed to provide a comfortable retirement. If you want that then you have to squirrel and make your own provision.

Pollycat

BlackKnightMonty said:

badmemory said:

So yes you can survive on state pension & no other benefits under certain circumstances, like homeowning.  But personally I did not spend a long working life to live a life merely surviving.  I have been taking my state pension for over ten years now & know that my costs are more than they were.  Not the normal cost of living though.  It is those things that become more difficult.  Stupid little things like not being able to buy the larger & normally cheaper items that my arthritis make difficult to lift, having to buy cans of coke (yes I know I shouldn't) instead of bottles because of the difficulty getting the tops off.  Really, really dreading not being able to drive.

Why didn’t you make any provisions for yourself for your retirement?

no savings?
no private pension?
no employment pension?

I also made provisions for my retirement and so did my husband.
I retired at 50 (just over 20 years ago), he retired at 52, mortgage free.
We have a financial stress-free lifestyle but I do appreciate that not everyone is as lucky as us.
But during our working lives, we always lived within our means - cars, holidays etc. 
A lot of our contemporaries didn't, choosing to have long-haul holidays in 5* hotel complexes and drive BMWs etc.

We are still quite frugal, choose our holidays carefully and drive a 16 year old car that hasn't done a lot of miles and does even less now.
We catch buses instead of using taxis.

I may be able to live on the state pension only but I wouldn't want to have to.

GibbsRule_No3.

My SP just about covers my HA rent, as I live in a London Borough, it does not cover my Council Tax, so I'd say no. I do have other pensions and am still working, nearly 70, my choice, for two days a week. Went to a Pension talk last week and they reckon to survive you need £14,000, fairly comfortable was £30,000 and very comfortable was over £40,000 this was based on one person, they did say you did not need to double those numbers for two people. At present with working pay I am just a bit over fairly comfortable and when I stop I won't be as low as surviving, thanks to the other pensions already in payment.

Mustbeananswer??

GibbsRule_No3. said:

My SP just about covers my HA rent, as I live in a London Borough, it does not cover my Council Tax, so I'd say no. I do have other pensions and am still working, nearly 70, my choice, for two days a week. Went to a Pension talk last week and they reckon to survive you need £14,000, fairly comfortable was £30,000 and very comfortable was over £40,000 this was based on one person, they did say you did not need to double those numbers for two people. At present with working pay I am just a bit over fairly comfortable and when I stop I won't be as low as surviving, thanks to the other pensions already in payment.

Disgrace....even after a good hike upwards .....In 2024-25, the full level of the new state pension is £221.20 a week or £11,502.40 a year.Pensioners are not given enough.They dont have enough even to survive (If they have no other Occupational Pensions in place they are £2500 behind the eight ball) No wonder we have 1.5 million Pensioners in debt Come on England...give us a break ?? 

BlackKnightMonty

Mustbeananswer?? said:

GibbsRule_No3. said:

My SP just about covers my HA rent, as I live in a London Borough, it does not cover my Council Tax, so I'd say no. I do have other pensions and am still working, nearly 70, my choice, for two days a week. Went to a Pension talk last week and they reckon to survive you need £14,000, fairly comfortable was £30,000 and very comfortable was over £40,000 this was based on one person, they did say you did not need to double those numbers for two people. At present with working pay I am just a bit over fairly comfortable and when I stop I won't be as low as surviving, thanks to the other pensions already in payment.

Disgrace....even after a good hike upwards .....In 2024-25, the full level of the new state pension is £221.20 a week or £11,502.40 a year.Pensioners are not given enough just to survive (If they have no other Occupational Pensions in place they are £2500 behind the eight ball) No wonder we have 1.5 million Pensioners in debt Come on England...give us a break ??

And a quarter of all pensioners are millionaires.

Maybe we should means test it and then only those with no other pension provision, or those whom have not been able to make any other retirement provision could obtain a higher SP; perhaps quadruple locked to the NMW/NLW?

Does that sound fair?

zagfles

GibbsRule_No3. said:

My SP just about covers my HA rent, as I live in a London Borough, it does not cover my Council Tax, so I'd say no. I do have other pensions and am still working, nearly 70, my choice, for two days a week. Went to a Pension talk last week and they reckon to survive you need £14,000, fairly comfortable was £30,000 and very comfortable was over £40,000 this was based on one person, they did say you did not need to double those numbers for two people. At present with working pay I am just a bit over fairly comfortable and when I stop I won't be as low as surviving, thanks to the other pensions already in payment.

But if the state pension was your only income you'd get HB to pay the rent. 

eastcorkram

zagfles said:

GibbsRule_No3. said:

My SP just about covers my HA rent, as I live in a London Borough, it does not cover my Council Tax, so I'd say no. I do have other pensions and am still working, nearly 70, my choice, for two days a week. Went to a Pension talk last week and they reckon to survive you need £14,000, fairly comfortable was £30,000 and very comfortable was over £40,000 this was based on one person, they did say you did not need to double those numbers for two people. At present with working pay I am just a bit over fairly comfortable and when I stop I won't be as low as surviving, thanks to the other pensions already in payment.

But if the state pension was your only income you'd get HB to pay the rent. 

Is this correct? I've often wondered.
Let's take the example at the start of this thread, but change it to someone who is renting and paying, let's say £900 per month. 

They have no problems with this while working. They then retire, and only income is SP. What happens next? 

zagfles

eastcorkram said:

zagfles said:

GibbsRule_No3. said:

My SP just about covers my HA rent, as I live in a London Borough, it does not cover my Council Tax, so I'd say no. I do have other pensions and am still working, nearly 70, my choice, for two days a week. Went to a Pension talk last week and they reckon to survive you need £14,000, fairly comfortable was £30,000 and very comfortable was over £40,000 this was based on one person, they did say you did not need to double those numbers for two people. At present with working pay I am just a bit over fairly comfortable and when I stop I won't be as low as surviving, thanks to the other pensions already in payment.

But if the state pension was your only income you'd get HB to pay the rent. 

Is this correct? I've often wondered.
Let's take the example at the start of this thread, but change it to someone who is renting and paying, let's say £900 per month. 

They have no problems with this while working. They then retire, and only income is SP. What happens next? 

You have an "allowance" called the "applicable amount", which is the amount you can earn before they start to taper HB/LHA. It's pretty much the level of the new state pension for single pensioners, depending when you reached SPA it's either £218 or £235 pw. So if income is at or below that level you'd get HB in full, assuming you don't live in a property that's excessive in size or rent for a single person. 

Shelter Legal England - Housing benefit calculation rates 2024 to 2025 - Shelter England