Doe's anyone think honestly any government cares the answer is NO!

We have one of the lowest pensions in Europe, disgrace for paying in for over 35 years.

It’s really quite simple Sunak has about 750 million so is insulated from ever experiencing any need. Poor people struggle. Is this right? Of course not.

My private pension I got after early retirement due to illness is less than £200 p/w. I'm 63 and my missus is 63 too and she is on a zero hours contract and some month's it's OK. Other months it's almost non existent. We're in that death zone where we earn just enough between us, that according to the government, we are excluded from any help whatsoever. Doesn't matter how many times we ask. Always the same answer. *Computer say NO!* So with council tax now at about £200 p/month, rent of £600 p/month and a monthly food bill that's gone up from £200 or so p/month to nearer £300 p/month. And I've not mentioned how high our gas and electric is. They both went up by over £60 p/month each. But they came down by about £10 a month. _Woopie!_ We can't save for anything as there is no money in the accounts at the end of each month. All we do is survive. But did you know that illegals are given £26 per day for food. And I don't get free accommodation, cigarettes, travel passes or anything that they get. Their food allowance is more than my pension is and I'm still paying taxes as I have done since I was 17.

Even though I have worked for 50 years and my D W P has gone up by £20 a week , my rent went up £9 a week rates went up to £149 a month , so any rise has been taken away also I'm paying £10 more tax so on one of my pensions I'm on £10 less as well , my wife still works at 69 although it's now part time just keeping ticking over . Apparently our state pension is one of the lowest in Europe, strange how we pretend to lead the way on money grabbing schemes like net zero and climate green policies, but we don't lead the way on paying a decent pension to ordinary people who have worked all there lives .

Over 9 million people between the age of 16 - 65 are claiming benefits supposed to be not working but of course the black economy thrives all tax free , some people not working are doing very nicely , it is a shocking mismanagement of funds .

I am with you old geezer I have worked since 15 now 68 this year I am on my own 😢

Mistake at the beginning; the P&O boss admitted paying some of his workers £2.86 an hour, not £5.00! I rely on the state pension and I also have a tiny employment related pension of £744 per year. Last month, HMRC informed me that this takes me over the limit so I am now paying £40 a month in tax! Smashing!

Unfortunately people in general are struggling. We are over taxed. Just take the price of fuel. If you need a car for work then further you work from home then money you have at the end of the week council tax cost of food mortgage/ rent. TV licence water rates. The list goes on I'm 68. So know how you feel

I am the same as you, I first saw this as a calculation on Facebook. A couple of weeks ago both Tory and Labour were saying the triple lock was unsustainable. But Sunak is promising £2000 to all pensioners thinking we will take his word and deliver our votes.

They gave a rise in the state pension, I have small works pension but lose most of in tax because they did not put the tax allowance up so they give it with one hand and take it away with the other.

I think the stock argument is that (a) a pensioner will either own their own home or (b) get housing benefit to cover their rent. This does not take into consideration that houses need maintenance and this maintenance is VERY expensive.

I agree, I am a pensioner and my pension just covers my rent and council tax. In order to eat, pay bills etc I have to work as well which I have done all my life as it is. I have looked at benefits but being alone and English I don`t qualify for anything which really pisses me off.

It's quite clear that the UK govt hates its population. Lowest pension in Europe. Having to work till you're 67 now. Mismanaging the NHS just as many older people need it to be working well. What you have to remember is the MPs have private healthcare and private pensions. The 'magic money tree' only exist for giving money towards wars. And dodgy contracts to dodgy people. Hoping for Labour (now the Tory 2nd team) to help with anything is forlorn i'm afraid. The days when Labour boldly challenged the establishment on wages, pensions, working conditions, poverty, and supprting the NHS correctly have long gone.

I have been keeping very close tabs on my expenditures for the past few years in preparation for the retirement that is ahead and the recent spike of inflation has really put the cat amongst the financial pigeons. I don't know what magical mist the government is using to calculate it's inflation figures because my basic expenditures have gone up about 50%. Four years ago, my monthly outgoings were about £600 to £700 - now they would be £1100 but I have started cutting things out and trimming the food budget such that it's about £1000 per month. Important to note is that none of that is housing costs as I own my place and so have no mortgage or rent to pay. That's just food, gas, electric, water, council tax, car and house insurance, phone, petrol and internet.

If you tell the MP,s they would just blag their way out of it. It requires daily exposure in the media etc and maybe the lousy governments would do something about it. I was an apprentice electrician in the 60s and 70s and the current pension is about on par with 1970s wages.

We are behind bosnia, lichtenstein,iceland ,and Hungary to name a few ,when it comes to state pension, we also have the highest retirement age,the quote everybody is living longer is actually factually incorrect,the average age in the uk is actually falling significantly thanks to austerity and benefit caps and the decline of the NHS,, more tory dishonesty

UK state pension is designed to alleviate absolute poverty, not relative poverty. Folks are expected to make their own arrangements to top up to a livable amount. Every time HM Gov has tried a wage related pension ie serps or state 2nd pension they've got frightened by the numbers and got back to an absolute poverty avoidance pension. God knows what will happen when generation rent hits retirement..

Please note that the state pension is 2 systems, new state pension is £221.20, per week, however most of us are on the old system which is £169.50 Per week, £51.70. !! Why is this rarely mentioned?

I only get the basic state pension , which is a mere £169 a week . I get this lower amount because I was born before 1952 ...( lucky me ) . The way the triple lock works for me is that my pension will always lag behind . A percentage increase on a smaller amount results in a lower increase and the gap widens with every year. The UK also pays one of the smallest pension of anywhere in Europe.

it is about time we spoke up , I have listened to the rubbish uncle Rishi saying we are getting a lump sum but it is only what we are entitled to with the cost of living increase due to the triple lock system .This year I am going to struggle , I live alone and the cost of heating ,water rates , council tax , and food prices I am afraid no luxuries this year and no holiday trips , this is what I worked 50 odd years for , unelected millionaire prime minister giving the imigrants more money than OAPs giving the French money to stop boats crossing the channel giving money to a war which has nothing to do with us and killing old folks in this country because they can not afford to heat their homes and feed themselves vote for them your having a laugh.

Trust me. The number of well off pensioners is dwarfed by those struggling.

Yeah, £200/wk is sickening low !! Good Luck !!

The UK State Pension assumes zero rent or mortgage by retirement age. Then if a couple on full SP £1800 ish is enough - just about - especially if near a bus route (free bus pass) and can do without a car. With a car or if single life is not so easy on £900 a month. Only food and council tax are cheaper than for couples. To be fair it's £898.36p that I get every 4 weeks NOT monthly. That is 13 times a year not 12.

Because my husband is younger then me by 4 years , when i retire we will have to survive on just my state pension..... he can't work because he is my full time carer. But we will not be entitled to housing benefit or pension credit to help pay our rent as they class us as a 'mixed age couple' which excludes you from claiming..... neither can we get universal credit as that is a working age benefit and neither of us can work. So we jointly will be on half the living wage and having to pay rent from that. I hope this government is proud of this, i have worked all my life and now instant poverty

Some people don't ever live, they merely survive. It hasn't just happened, it has always been the same and it will never change. This is the system that has been built around us over centuries, and we can like it or get over it.

I have a reduced state pension which is just £700 per month , ( that's just a third of the minimum wage) I'm expected to live on that with a little few pounds pension credit top up... this after paying into the system for 50 years...

The government truly doesn’t care how you live. They would probably expect you to downsize your accommodation in order to pay the council tax. Make more room for the immigrants.

The UK state pension is one of the lowest in Europe. Gordon Brown commenced his chancellorship in 1997 with a fairly secret raid on the occupational pension industry from which it has never fully recovered. I have been living on the state pension and a small NHS pension which total to £1100 per month. I can manage on this as my wife has similar income and our mortgage is paid off. However I think many pensioners who pay rent must struggle and end up getting benefits to help them out. I think mass immigration is totally destabilising to this country. It has made housing so expensive that future generations will reach pension age with very little security over housing costs. The pie is being divided up ever smaller as millions come to this country and take jobs and housing. But many people support this policy. Both that pension raid and mass migration really got going under the Blair/Brown government. They never cared about the effects of these policies on the elderly British population. I wonder what the next Labour government has in store for the elderly? It probably won't be in their manifesto when that eventually is announced.

For 1 hour physical labour I bought a box of washing powder and a pkt of toilet rolls

Bang on mate👍

My pension is only £152.19 and that includes graduated pension that i paid extra for and 25 PENCE a week for being 80 years old! I do not understand why I had to have 14 years NI more than others just because I was born in 1943. 44 years they tell me I needed when I only had 39 so lost a lot of my pension but others slightly younger only needed 30 years. Why? And as for pension credit, first I couldnt apply because my wife was below pension age so I am also treated as below pension age and now she does receive her pension I am still not eligable. The answer, I am told, is to divorce my wife and I will then be eligable. Started to work at 15 but can't afford to live at 80. What a crazy world we now live in.

Can't afford taxi fares to hospital appointments! Pensioner poverty, it's a complete nightmare. Tried all the helplines, they just don't work.

People with base pension, no savings and struggling can get additional help. I’m also only on state pension however I paid the big stamp as they called it for many years so I got almost £4000/year more than the base however most of that is taxed so minus around £800 although I’m not sure how they will take it as the statement said I don’t need to do anything. As for heating, I’ve plenty of clothes so I won’t freeze 🥶 now I’m trying to think of a way to earn a little extra money doing something that I enjoy, however it won’t be easy 😅 As for the £5/hr for the ship workers, it depends where their home is and you will probably find that they stay away from home for long periods and go home pretty pleased with themselves, I know people from the Philippines and Thailand that do this.

Don't pay your utility bills or your water rates or your general rates what can they do

I was one of those people who, on the advice of my father, joined the company pension scheme. Now having worked for 5 different companies I have 5 company pensions. I retired 10 years ago at 60 and my state pension came into payment in 2020. Sadly, my wife died from the dreaded cancer just over 4 years ago and never received her SP due to the government rule change. I now receive a widower’s pension from her company scheme. So I receive 7 pensions, including my SP, which amounts to a tidy sum above the UK average salary. No government of any colour is going to increase SP to the living wage. They’re more likely to means test it and I guess I’d be a loser in that case.

A person needs to have paid 35 years National Insurance to get the full state pension. Assuming you start work at 16 that means by age 51 you have the qualifying years yet if you continue to work to the current state pension age of 66 years, so another 15 years working you do not get anything extra. The state pension should be paid as you get xxxx amount for every year that you have paid into it.

Unfortunately using cheap foreign labour to suppress wages is SUPPORTED by Labour who will soon be in power. If a pensioner needs £440 a week to live on then so do people on the dole so nobody's realistically gonna get off their arss unless min wage is at least £700 pw and then who's guna be a teacher or nurse when they can earn MORE than that in Asda? Maybe the incoming govt will take us down this route. We'll see. You're sure looking well, senior or not. Thnx for the vid.

When I started work in 1963 paying tax and N I contributions Spain was a third world country it now has the one of the best pensions in Europe we are the 16th

I have always been skint I'm used to it

Couple of points. I wish the main political parties could get together for once and agree upon a sustainable pension based upon a fixed percentage of average earnings, rather than the unwieldy triple lock. Secondly, I believe that many of the unemployment and health related benefits are even lower then the state pension. Seems that this government find poverty and hunger acceptable as part of it's economic strategy.

I'm 72 and in the same situation as you are. I dread one of us "going"! But what makes you think Labour (or anyone else) will help us out of this? Man, you must have been smoking whacky baccy for the last few years. We are known as Useless Eaters. We are fully expendable, despite having paid into the pot all our working lives (unlike a certain demographic I could name).

No Pension should be taxed you have payed tax all your life

it is going to get even worse in future years a lot of pensioners will be paying rent as well.

i know a few on pension credit who pay very little rent and do very nicely, how does that work ?

I agree it's not enough to live on. However, the government purse is already overstretched. The onus is on the individual to invest in a 401k if they dont have a work based pension. I now live in Thailand, where the state pension is 12 pounds a month.

You maybe not skin….but you made a choice to try and save even if it was difficult. Some don’t bother to save and expect the government to pay for them and the government will do this gladly…shame on them

esa and jsa are a lot less than a pension, less than £100pw so if pensioners struggle what do people on esa/jsa do?

Retirement? Guess you have to work until you drop.

You are an older geezer than me.

I'm sorry, I can't really hear you.

If the state pension had kept up with inflation it would be around £1600, a month.

what you should do is provide for yourself over your working life if you didn't then that's on you

Short answer: they're not.

I think that Tories hold an idea in their heads of what an ideal pensioner looks like and they just project that image onto pensioners in general, such that if you're a pensioner and struggling you must be doing it wrong. It goes for pensioners and young people alike, and plenty of other demographics they really don't care for. It's an unthinking way to think but that's the Tories for you, they don't really care beyond saying they do. What a state our country is in.

Get people to stop voting Tory that's the only way

This will be controversial, and I don’t mean to suggest everyone is the same but … when people reach retirement age, you should have paid for your property.. so no mortgage no rent, people should start paying into their pension when first starting work… then they will have about the same amount to live on as when they were working with the same amount of disposable income minus the mortgage. when timing retirement properly to match your mortgage being paid off, adding your private pension (which you should be fully paid up for over your working life), adding the state pension, adding a private pension lump sum … should give you a very comfortable retirement. If people don’t think this through when they are younger, then retirement will be awful .. but that would be their fault for not learning about money and perhaps making bad decisions.

They don’t want to give any state pension let alone raise it. To be fair that living wage is to pay for people who still have a mortgage, kids etc, which a pensioner shouldn’t have

The answers your not all planned

I live in a small council flat, Im single~ Yes 221 per week, as you say~ BUT what you have left out is that as a pensioner you get Housing benefit, which in effect makes my rent and council tax combined~ £12 a week. So 221 minus 12 is £209 per week for everything else. that's equivalent to =/120rent/25 c,tax/and the 209 that comes to around £354. leaving 209 tax free for everything and anything else not mentioned. Also free bus travel for life. That's not too shabby. . If you earn £11 x 40 hours thats £440, minus tax(40) minus NI (£8) minus full rent (£120)minus full c,tax (£25)minus travel to work/work related(£30 or more with a car)~ you will end up with a similar figure Around £217 left over for all else. So about the same as working...only you dont have to work, and you dont need the expense of a car to get there.

Just know we're heading fast towards the end times. It's all in your Bible.

It is a misconception that you “paid in” to the state pension. When you were of working age your taxes/NI went to support the pensioners who were retired at the time. Newsflash, there were many fewer of them and they did not live as long. The poor young folk of today have to support (through their taxes) a growinga ageing and economically inactive population, whilst their own pension ages go up and up. Housing is totally unaffordable for young folk (I was lucky to habe hought my home in the 1990s), whilst a large number of pensioners own their own properties. Your circumstances may be tough, and I feel for you, but the inter-generational imbalance is heavily skewed towards the older generations (who, let’s be honest, also did-over the younger generation in recent times with their economic prospsects too).

I suppose the idea is that firstly, pensioners have had a 40 year working life to save some extra money to supplement the state pension, they have always known that it would not be enough to live comfortably on. Secondly, pensioners usually don't have a mortgage to pay. Thirdly, there is simply not enough money to pay everyone a pension for maybe 30 years or more. Most people receive far more from the state pension then they have ever paid in in National Insurance, for example in the last year of my working life I paid around £2,000 NI, as a pensioner I get over £11,000 a year from the state.Fourthly there are not enough people paying tax and NI to support an ever increasing pensioner population.

Top tip,….dont turn your fridge on put your milk in a draught…

Well I wouldn't worry. People don't want to work and Brexit, voted for by pensioners, will stuff us further. So soon no pension. The more pensioners get, the less workers get. Pensioners need to have made provisions for themselves, just like everyone.