State pensioners want pensions to be boosted by £1,936.
State pensioners want their pensions to match minimum wage (Image: Getty)
State pensioners could get as much as £1,936 more if a petition calling for the retirement benefit to be matched to minimum wage is successful.
A petition has been launched which calls for the state pension, which is currently set at £12,547.60 per year for a full entitlement for a new, post-2016 state pensioner, to be increased all the way to £14,500.
That’s because £14,560 is the amount that Under 18s minimum wage is set at for someone working 35 hours a week for a year.
The petition, created by Richard Sobey MBE, says: “The National Living Wage age for 21+ is now £23,132 (35 hour week; 52 week year). Even the National Minimum Wage for under 18’s is £14,560 (same basis). My full New State Pension is only £12,564 after working for a lifetime.
“I believe for 65+ a minimum UK standard of living is £14,500 and the State Pension should match this.
“The full New State Pension lags well behind those in Europe (UK only 13th of 28). Even an apprentice, or under 18 worker, is now legislated to earn a salary of at least £14,560. For 18 to 20 year old workers this National Minimum Wage equates to £19,747 per annum.
“For those who have worked and paid NI and taxes all their lives, we believe a full State Pension of £12,564 is just not fair and equitable and the State Pension should be at least the £14,500 necessary for a minimum standard of living for retirees.”
The campaign has already attracted over 21,000 signatures as of Wednesday, September 2, well on its way to the 100,000 it needs in order to be debated in Parliament.
The petition will remain open until January 28, 2027 and it can be signed here.
It comes hot on the heels of another petition launched by an Express reader which called for the tax-free Personal Allowance, frozen since 2021, to finally be increased, which in itself would also hand more money to state pensioners.
The threshold level of £12,500 in 2019 is worth approximately £16,215 in 2026 accounting for inflation. Founder Mike Haynes wrote in the petition: “Since 2021 personal tax allowance has been frozen at £12,570. This freeze was due to expire this year but the Chancellor of the Exchequer has extended it to 2031.
“We want to keep some more of our own money.
“If you are earning minimum wage then you may soon be paying tax because of fiscal drag. Some higher earners pay little or no tax due to clever use of accounting rules. We think this is so wrong.”