The tag 'benefit' may not be welcome and people may have contributed all their lives but the fact is like it or not it is still classed as a benefit - and it is not a benefit paid equally to everyone even if they have worked all their lives. For instance many women retired now retired at age 60 which is a whole 7 years more of claiming this benefit than my wife will be able to claim for. 7 years less of claiming and 7 years more of paying tax. It is a touchy subject for my wife and one of our elderly neighbours once made the mistake of describing people receiving tax credits as scroungers! Sorry but right at the start of the credit crunch our income collapsed and tax credits helped keep us afloat for a couple of years. We'd both paid taxes all out lives and are paying them again so we felt we'd contributed and were grateful for the help. Current pensioners are receiving their benefit from anywhere between 2 and 7 years before many future pensioners will receive their benefits. So when talking about the cost of benefits that has to be taken into account. I'm not saying that current pensioners shouldn't get it just suggesting they should count their lucky stars!!