State pension is NOT an entitlement - and this leaves Labour free to means test YOURS

In March, I delivered some unwelcome news: the state pension isn't an entitlement. It's a state benefit, just like any other.

Many readers weren't happy. They wrote in, insisting the pension is theirs by right after decades of National Insurance contributions. And all I could say was this: I only wish it was.

I'm not the one deciding this so please, don't shoot the messenger. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made it clear in black and white, legally defining the state pension as a benefit. Why? To "root it within the social security framework".

The DWP isn't just playing with words. That changes everything.

UK finances are in a mess as Chancellor Rachel Reeves runs out of fiscal headroom. Now she's facing demands to means test the state pension to keep it affordable.

And benefits can be means tested. A whole heap of them already are, including Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support and Income Support. Which means the state pension can be too.

If you refuse to believe the state pension is a benefit, you're not alone.

New research from retirement specialist Just Group, published on Tuesday, shows a staggering 94% of state pensioners believe the pension is an entitlement. And frankly, why wouldn't they?

I'd think that too, if I weren't in this job. I'd be just as shocked and outraged as everyone else. Instead, I'm just outraged - and worried.

Reeves is scrambling to find savings. So far she's targeted the winter fuel payment, Cash ISA allowance and Personal Independence Payment.

From March 2027, she plans to slap inheritance tax on unused pensions as well. Every single one of these changes will hit retirees hard.

Here's another common misapprehension.

Just Group's research shows that most retirees still believe the state pension is affordable long term. Again, the reality is more complicated.

Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group, says that rising longevity and falling birth rates mean a quarter of the UK's population will be over 65 by 2050.

Over time, a shrinking number of workers will have to fund a growing number of pensioners.

Remember, there is no pot of cash paying for the state pension. It's funded purely by taxing those in work. If that sounds like a Ponzi scheme, you're not the first to think that.

Lowe says Reeves has four options to keep the state pension affordable: increase taxes, raise the retirement age, reduce the amount paid, or means test it.

Every single one is politically toxic, he says - and he's right.

But one or a combination will have to happen. The Tories are already looking at means testing.

The state pension review is due within 18 months, when all options must be on the table. Lowe's advice? Build private pensions and savings now to buffer against possible cuts.

But that's impossible for those who've already retired.

If means testing becomes the norm, the principle of universal support for pensioners will be eroded, potentially leaving millions worse off.

Means testing is complex, which is why most governments avoid it. Yet Reeves is now means testing the winter fuel payment. Some may see that as a worrying precedent.

Personally, I think means testing the state pension would be a step too far for hard-pressed Brits (although the Aussies managed it).

Others differ. With the state pension defined as a benefit, not an entitlement, Labour has the power to reshape it however it sees fit.