A new online petition is calling on the UK Government to set a minimum level of weekly State Pension payments of £380 for every retiree, arguing that the current rates are “far too low”. It is also asking for the official age of retirement to be lowered from 66 back to 60 for both men and women.
The current State Pension payment rates are worth up to £185.15 for those on the New State Pension and up to £141.85 for people receiving the old, Basic State Pension. State Pension is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and increases every April as part of the Triple Lock rule, however, this was temporarily suspended until April 2023 as a direct result of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Petition creator, Michael Thompson, said that increasing the payment rate to everyone to £380 per week would result in an annual income of £19,60. He said this new level of payment “should lift thousands out of poverty, and give our elderly folk more spending power” which in turn would help to grow the economy.
