There is money, by the way, but they took it out of the pot to pay down the national debt. Your (our) national insurance contributions (NICs) are put into the National Insurance Fund. This fund has a surplus - something like £50 billion in 2010. The government decided to 'invest' the surplus in paying down the national debt. It was the Pension Act of 1995 that changed the rules, but the coalition of 2010 which accelerated the timetable so that people actually feel the pinch.