A petition calling on the UK Government to increase State Pension payments to £19,760 per year, the equivalent to £380 each week, has received more than 39,000 signatures of support and is currently awaiting an official response from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The suggested increase would bring State Pension payments into line with the recent rise on April 1 to the National Living Wage, which is now £9.50 an hour for people aged over 23 working a 40-hour week - the equivalent to an annual salary of £19,760.
The DWP increased State Pension payments by 3.1% on April 11, 2022, which means the basic State Pension will go up to £141.85 per week from £137.60 and the full, new State Pension will rise to £185.15 from £179.60 - payments are made in arrears so the uplift will not been seen straight away.
But the cost of living crisis, heightened by soaring energy bills, is putting additional pressure on household finances.
For many of the 12.4 million people across the UK claiming their State Pension, including 981,399 Scots, it is potentially going to hit them hardest as this could be their only source of income.
However, the ‘Increase the State Pension to £19,760 a year (£380 a week)’ petition, which was created last month by Stephen Edward Wyatt and posted on the petition-parliament website, has now gathered more than 39,220 (at time of writing) signatures of support - enough to trigger an official response from the UK Government.
At 100,000 signatures, this petition would also be considered for debate in Parliament.
The petition reads: “The [UK] Government should raise the State Pension to match the yearly equivalent of the National Living Wage (NLW).
“The NLW is rising to £9.50 an hour (i.e. £19,760 a year for F/T 40h per week), which we are told is needed to live, yet pensioners are expected to live on a state pension of £7,376 a year.”
It continues: “The State Pension is not enough to live on. All people regardless of standing are supposed to be looked on as equal, this is clearly not the case.
“Most people have paid into the State Pension through National Insurance Contributions during their working life.
“Most pensioners live active lives and have to pay the same bills as others have to find money for but are expected to do it on less than half the income of those on the National Living Wage, this is unacceptable.”
The petition ends by asking the UK Government to “level up and treat everyone the same, this is the right thing to do”.
The petition will close on August 25, 2022 - read it in full here.
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