Are UK citizens addicted on State handouts?

[Grandad.Malky]

Your state pension when you're of an age to do so.

 

If not a scrounger now, a scrounger you will be

 

Wouldn’t I have already paid for that if I live to be 70 75 80 or what ever it is by the time I get there?

[Aries22]

I get a state pension of around half the basic pension because I was a full time mum for several years, then a part time worker for several more. Nowadays, I'd get NI credits to boost my pension, back then we got nowt! Now we only need 30 years of contributions for a full pension, but for my age group, it was 39. Wives and mothers couldn't (and didn't) sign on unless they were genuinely looking for work. When I started looking for work, I never considered it - I just went out and got a job!

 

But I suppose I do get benefits, just hadn't considered something I contributed to for a long time in that light.

 

 

Quite true, l only get pension credit, because l stayed and looked after my three children, which was considered the norm at that time. I did work from leaving school to having my first child, and after when my youngest was about 15, but l now get punished for doing what was considered the right thing at the time.

[Greybeard]

Wouldn’t I have already paid for that if I live to be 70 75 80 or what ever it is by the time I get there?

 

Apparently not. Certain benefits like basic pension, JSA and I believe Invalidity Benefit depend on the number of NI contributions made, but not the amount of NI paid.

 

National Insurance is just another form of income tax.

[TeaFan]

I don't claim any welfare, and never have. No doubt if I find myself out of work, I'll get exactly the same as someone who has never worked even though I've contributed thousands to the system I so far haven't used.

 

But that would be alright, wouldn't it Paul? You don't pay lots of money into critical illness cover and then complain that you didn't get pancreatic cancer.

[Darth Vader]

Unfortunately, as many salaries are a joke these days, and costs of living continue to spiral, an increasing number of working families rely on these benefits to get by. I'm sure they'd much prefer a fair wage in the first instance.

[Suffragette1]

Unfortunately, as many salaries are a joke these days, and costs of living continue to spiral, an increasing number of working families rely on these benefits to get by. I'm sure they'd much prefer a fair wage in the first instance.

 

I agree, without these benefits to supplement pitiful incomes then far more families would be living on the bread line.

 

I for one am thankful of our welfare state. Try living in somewhere like South Africa, where there is no safety net, and losing one's job. Your choices are to rely on the goodwill and affordability of family members or be destitute.