Just to correct a common misunderstanding about why the State Pension is deemed a "benefit" and not a "true" pension ...
If you pay into a pension fund, whether that is at work or a private pension, that fund is invested on your behalf and the "pot" grows. When you draw your pension you draw from that pot. ....the bigger the pot the more you get.... quite a simple concept.
The State Pension does NOT work that way .. there is no "pot" of invested money .. all your National Insurance and Income Tax contributions over the years have all been spent .. every year .. especially as successive governments have run a budget deficit.
All State Pension payments/social security costs/pension credits etc etc .. in fact EVERY SINGLE PENNY THE GOVERNMENT SPENDS comes from this years taxes and borrowings.
Thus the size of the State Pension and any increases are not linked to the size or profitability of the non-existent pot .. but are decreed by Government, and paid for by present taxpayers, so it cannot, correctly, be called a pension. It is paid to pensioners because they "benefit" from the fact that the present day work force are paying taxes, without them there would be no government income, and that is half the problem .. with more and more elderly folk claiming the state pension, there are simply not enough folk in work to cover the cost. It was once quoted (way back in 1983 when I did my Commerce course) that it then took 9 workers to pay for 1 pensioner ... I've no idea what the required ratio is now.