A new online petition is calling on the UK Government to set a minimum level of weekly State Pension payments of £200 for every retiree, 'irrespective of gender, marital status or National Insurance Contributions' record. The petition suggests that this would remove any anomalies in the current pension system, including the growing discrepancy between the old and new State Pensions.
Petition creator, Dennis Reed from campaign group Silver Voices, states that this would create a Minimum Pension Guarantee (MPG). He wrote that research by the group, take from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) sources, reveals that in September 2020 only six per cent of State Pensioners received the top rate of the new State Pension at £185 per week, while 87 per cent received a basic State Pension of £142 or less.
Mr Reed wrote on the petitions-parliament website: “The UK provides the worst State Pension in the developed world, which is insufficient for life’s essentials, particularly with surging energy and food prices.”
