Government spends more on pensions than housing benefit – because HB costs less and there are more pensioners

Last Updated: November 3, 2015By

“We’ve got people comparing pensions spending with the rest of our social security payouts so soon they’ll want us to cut that as well. Great!” … thinks Iain Duncan Smith. Let’s not fall into that trap, eh?

Let’s not get carried away by these revelations.

They invite adverse comparison between Housing Benefit and Pensions, but this is not comparing like-for-like. Pensions are paid to everybody over a certain age who has made enough National Insurance payments during their working lifetime, with each person getting around £150 a week, while Housing Benefit is provided only to people whose earnings are below a certain level, who need help with the costs of their accommodation. For that reason, HB payments are significantly less than pensions.

Note also that the information has been provided by the Press Association, rather than any campaigning organisation.

It seems likely that another ‘divide and rule’ strategy is at work here. Housing Benefit has already been hit by spending cuts – most notably with the Bedroom Tax, and now with age-related restrictions on younger people who might otherwise claim.

Now, by advertising the difference between HB and pensions, it seems someone wants us to think that senior citizens are somehow getting more than they deserve, when most of them are only getting enough to manage.

How silly. The elderly aren’t getting too much from the government – the rest of us simply aren’t getting enough!

It’s the politics of division.

Let’s not fall for it.

The Government spends four times as much on pensions as it does on housing benefit , it has been revealed.

£1 in every £7 the Government spends goes on pensions, up from £1 in £8 in 2010/11.

And more is spent on pensions than all education services – currently £1 in every £9.

In the last tax year, £107.97 billion was spent on pensions and £26.57 billion on housing benefits.

It means that 41.9% of Britain’s total social security budget is allocated to pensions, compared with 10.3% on housing benefits, according to analysis by the Press Association.

Source: Government spends four times as much on pensions as it does on housing benefit – Mirror Online

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12 Comments

  1. ian725 November 3, 2015 at 12:23 am - Reply

    lets not forget that Pensioners have contributed to the State through out their life most for around 40 to 50 years and that would add up to quite a sum, disregarding the taxes paid. If paid to a separate fund and to reputable Bank such as Schroder the sum would add up to much more than the state presently pays out. As Mike stipulates this is a divide and conquer ruse given that the £150 per week which is the present max pension from the state translates to only £7500 per year ….. again NOT enough to Live on.

  2. Thomas November 3, 2015 at 4:24 am - Reply

    If they harm the pensioners who else would vote for them?

  3. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) November 3, 2015 at 8:31 am - Reply

    I should just like to re-iterate ian735’s very sensible and accurate comment and agree Mike that this is just another Tory scheme to divide and rule by deception.

  4. Bookworm November 3, 2015 at 8:55 am - Reply

    And some poorer pensioners rely on HB too, so they will be adversely affected by Universal Credit when it’s rolled out. No one wins under this govt apart from the rich.

  5. John Gaines November 3, 2015 at 10:15 am - Reply

    And, when you have a Pension, you are the main Target of every single Crook Corporation operating from the dirty City of London;
    Michaela and Andy Oates can tell you a story about City theft which will curdle your Toes in shame..the shame is that we do not rip them (the City swindlers) out of our country and dump them on a Devils Island:
    They are being BLED DRY having to PAY for investment schemes they should never have been sold (I guess that gave ‘Gardy Loo’ (night soil coming) Gideon the bright idea that he could swindle all Pensions and he has.

    Michaela and Andy were sold dodgy property investments via an investment SIPP, WHICH HAVE OF COURSE GONE bankrupt, yet they continue to have to PAY ‘FEE’s
    Laura Miller of… I News…. 31/Oct:
    “Their cash went up in smoke-but they are still paying FEES”. and, guess what? that was only in 2012…not under a Labour run Administration, just your average criminal Tories and their City crooks friends.

    Dump the Dirty City!

  6. AndyH November 3, 2015 at 10:20 am - Reply

    I always find it irritating the way they say ‘it was revealed’ as if to suggest it’s a scope – rather than information that’s in the public domain.

  7. Joan Edington November 3, 2015 at 5:22 pm - Reply

    I, for one, am heartily sick of the way these scum refer to the State Pension as a benefit.

    • Mike Sivier November 3, 2015 at 8:37 pm - Reply

      In fairness, there are also pension benefits – benefits which are payable only to pensioners. Some people seem to mix these up with pensions themselves.

      • Joan Edington November 3, 2015 at 8:47 pm - Reply

        I’m aware of that Mike. I have my own bus pass :-) However, this article seems to use the word “pensions”. It doesn’t say “pensions and related benefits”.

        • Mike Sivier November 3, 2015 at 9:01 pm - Reply

          That’s because it is referring to pensions and comparing them with social security benefits.
          Both pensions and benefits come from the same social security budget – which is why I think certain people are trying to play them off against each other – but they are distinct and should not be confused.

  8. Dez November 3, 2015 at 5:25 pm - Reply

    How much of this large pension costs is supporting gold plated civil servants, local government staff MPS ETC who probably still enjoy inflation proofed final salary schemes. Maybe it’s another unfunded slushfund.hidden in their accounts somewhere.

  9. digger November 4, 2015 at 12:42 pm - Reply

    the tories always attack the weakest and poorest people and lets be honest pensioners deserve to get back what they have paid for

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