Increase the state pension to equal 35 hours a week at the National Living Wage

The majority of pensioners have worked and contributed to society for decades, but the state pension falls well below the income of someone working full-time at the National Living Wage. We want the Government to increase the state pension to equal 35 hours a week at the living wage for 23 and over.

There has been no policy change since this topic was debated on 12 December 2022 (Increase State pensions to £380 a week, and lower retirement age to 60) and the e-petition response on 7 February 2023 (Increase State Pensions to £416.80 per week & lower Retirement Age to 60 for All - (Increase State Pensions to £416.80 per week & lower Retirement Age to 60 for All))

We are committed to ensuring economic security for people at every stage of their life, including when they reach retirement.

This petition suggests increasing the State Pension to equal 35 hours a week at the National Living Wage (NLW). The two have different purposes and a direct comparison cannot be drawn. The NLW aims to protect low-income workers and provide an incentive to work by ensuring that workers benefit from being employed. However, this is not appropriate for pensioners, most of whom have left the labour market. Comparisons made in this petition between headline State Pension payments and the NLW do not consider the full package of measures available to support people in retirement.

This year, the Government will spend over £151 billion directly on the State Pension and benefits for pensioners in Great Britain. In April, the State Pension saw its biggest ever rise, increasing by 10.1%. The full yearly rate of the new State Pension is now over £10,600 per year. In addition, the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is over £3,050 higher, in cash terms, than in 2010. That’s £790 more than if it had been uprated by earnings and £945 more than if it had been uprated by inflation (since 2010).

Automatic enrolment into workplace pensions was introduced in 2012 to encourage more people to save for their retirement – over 10 million employees have already been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. This will help build a stronger, more inclusive retirement savings culture for future generations. In addition to direct State Pension payments, pensioners benefit from the provision of tax relief for work-based pension contributions. In 2021 a total of £33 billion more was saved in real terms into workplace pensions than in 2012, improving the financial resilience in retirement of millions of workers.

Department for Work and Pensions