mark ross
181.1K posts
@marksross
Norwich City 💛💚. Football m sport LN4 sun 😎freedom democracy 🇬🇧🇺🇸 🇪🇸🏴
Yes we did 'pay in'. We had to have a number of qualifying years! That's why higher earners (like my father) received a Graduated Pension. That's why some women who didn't 'pay in', paying the reduced rate NI contributions got a vastly reduced State Pension (like my mother).
No one has 'paid in'. That's a long-standing fiction as you well know. All you're doing is shattering any credibility when you say Reform is committed to restoring the nation's finances.
I suspect people don't realise how extractive the triple lock is on pensions. The triple lock means the state pension goes up by whichever is highest of: 1. Average earnings growth 2. Inflation as measured by September CPI 3. 2.5% regardless of any other factors. Inflation is 3.8% and nominal earnings growth is 4.8%, but even if you were flatlining and your earnings didn't outpace inflation, the pensions would still rise.
No one has ‘paid into’ the state pension. NI payments are spent by the government of the day, not put into a pot with your name on. Using these terms just perpetuates the myth that the state pension is a contributory scheme. It isn’t. It’s a non-means tested universal benefit paid for by current taxpayers.
