I have decided that being a “pensioner” ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Had to wait an extra year to qualify for the state pension - my heart goes out to all those younger than me who will have to wait even longer.
The Tories break yet another manifesto pledge to stop the pension being increased in-line with the higher of the triple lock components, so one of the worst state pensions in the civilised world continues to remain just that.
(It’s about £24k in Germany and about a third of that here).
And on top of all that, 8 weeks after becoming a “pensioner” the DWP STILL hasn’t paid me a penny of my state pension, despite my “application” for the pension having been successfully completed in March.
That’s the same DWP that stopped my wife’s disability benefits within seconds of my having notified them of her death.
I will probably end up having a long wait on the phone to be told what I was told, when I last phoned them and asked why I hadn’t been paid - “I don’t know”.
Won’t be phoning them from Spain, so the chances are that this could drift on for a while.