New calls to give State Pension payments of £221 each week to every person over retirement age

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A new online petition is calling for all people over the official age of retirement (66) to be paid the New State Pension weekly rate of £221.20, some £884.80 every four-week pay period.

At present, those who reached retirement age before April 6, 2016 are only eligible for the Basic State Pension, which is worth up to £169.50 each week, some £678 every pay period.

The State Pension currently provides regular financial support for nearly 12.7 million older people across the country, including over one million retirees living in Scotland.

How much someone receives depends on the number of qualifying National Insurance years they have made - at least 10 are needed for any State Pension payment and around 35 for the full rate, although people who have been ‘contracted out’ may need more.Petition creator, WASPI woman Elaine Whatmough, believes that “it is not right that pensioners who are on the new pension can get over £200 a month more”.The ‘Give all state pensioners the new State Pension’ petition states: “I’m a WASPI woman that was affected by State Pension change like plenty of other Women and also missed out on the new State Pension on the 6th April 2016.