Five things you didn't know about the state pension

1) If the link between pensions and earnings had not been broken in 1980, the National Pensioner Convention calculates that the current basic state pension would be £161.30 per week today, instead of £97.65 per week. 2) The government plans to set the universal state pension at £140 or even £155 per week, but this is still under the DWP's official poverty line of £178 per week. 3) The current system is so complicated partly because there are currently more than 30 different pensioner benefits that can be claimed on top of the basic state pension. These include a Christmas bonus, help ...