Major Overhaul Of State Pensions

[Arthur Little]

According to a BBC source, the UK coalition government is planning a "very radical" overhaul of the state pension - the first reform of this magnitude in over three decades - as announced by Business Secretary, Vince Cable (himself of pensionable age) on 'Breakfast Television' this morning.

Apparently, :rolleyes: the government is keen to "improve the lot" of older, retired people ... particularly women - many of whom, in the past, tended to lose out on account of having paid insufficient National Insurance contributions to eventually qualify for a full pension - due to earlier child-rearing commitments.

And that's all well and good :Yippeee: ... until we learn that these proposals are likely to "take some time to introduce!" Why? After all, successive governments have habitually been quick off the mark in implementing unpopular regimes ... such as sanctioning higher fuel costs - which affects everyone [car owners or not] in terms of soaring food prices - the net result being that the poorest families are invariably the hardest-hit. :angry: Then, of course, there's the imminent rise in VAT from 17% to 20 per cent, come January.

Also, a Green Paper scheduled for "later this year" is aimed at providing better conditions for future pensioners. There's even (unconfirmed) rumours of the basic pension rising from £97 to £140 per week for a single person. But - given that there are only two full months left in 2010 - isn't it more likely to be the financial year (ending in April) that's being talked about here!? And what about today's pensioners? How are they expected to cope meanwhile? :doh

Arghh ... enough procrastinating, Mr Cable ... get properly "wired-up" ... and sooner rather than later! :xxaction-smiley-047

[tomboo]

maybe he just needs a pro castration to speed things up a little

[mickcant]

Hi Arthur,:Wave:
I was hopfull when I read about this in a paper this morning (better not admit it was the Sun :NoNo:)
But it sounds like at 66 I will see no benifit in my lifetime:omg:
Mick.:olddude:

[KeithD]

At least it's a step in the right direction.... doesn't bother me... I've been getting my pension since I was 21 :doh

[grahamw48]

So when are they going to up the retirement age for women...who have the good fortune to outlive us downtrodden men by around 6 years on average ?

Seems that's been quietly brushed under the carpet.

Equality of the sexes only appears to move in one direction. :rolleyes:

[joebloggs]

So when are they going to up the retirement age for women...who have the good fortune to outlive us downtrodden men by around 6 years on average ?

Seems that's been quietly brushed under the carpet.

Equality of the sexes only appears to move in one direction. :rolleyes:

probably when women get the same pay as men :D

[Terpe]

Funnily enough, my interest in State Pension increases exponentially as time goes by.:olddude:

As it currently stands, from April 6 2010, the State Pension age for women
already started to increase.
Originally it was to be from current 60 to be 65 by 2020.

But...It has already been announced that some new proposals will mean women’s State Pension age will increase more quickly to 65 between April 2016 and November 2018.

And.....from December 2018 the State Pension age for both men and women will start to increase to reach 66 by April 2020.

I'm going to now review the new latest 'thinking', but I suspect it's not as clear-cut as we might imagine.

[Terpe]

I did a little research and a little 'reading between the lines' regarding the new Universal Basic State Pension.

My take on this is that there's no doubt that the proposed new State Pension represents very good news for those women who have often been unable to build up sufficient National Insurance qualifying years under the current system.

But... don't forget that the pension age for women will see a rather sudden increase
to 66 in 2020 (maybe earlier). This will save money but at the same time hit a lot of women very hard. (So maybe women deserve something back anyway).

Governments have long since said that the timetable for state pension age increases will be need to be reviewed.

Don't expect to rule out the age increases, for all, being accelerated.

Do expect any future increases to be much more closely linked to rises in life expectancy.

Don't forget that stastically it still holds true that the poorer people in society do not tend to live as long as the wealthy.

As it stands right now The current maximum state pension rate is £97.65 for singles
and £156.15 for couples. Through various means tested payments it's possible to boost harder-up and older OAPs to £132.60 a week for singles, and £202.40 for couples.
It has been suggested that abolishing the very high cost of administering this means-testing would off-set the costs for a new flat rate pension of £140 per week

The new 'auto-enrolment' pension saving is set to begin from 2012.
Chances are that any major reforms would need to start introduction before this.

My conclusion:-

As always the devil will be in the detail
There's no such thing as a free lunch.

[Arthur Little]

I did a little research and a little 'reading between the lines' regarding the new Universal Basic State Pension.

My conclusion:-

As always the devil will be in the detail
There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Haven't really gone into the whole shebang in any detail ... but :iagree: with the conclusions you've reached. Many older people - myself included - tend to ignore the "small print" when we should, in fact, :ReadIt:

[Terpe]

Arthur, it's all 'political' in these uncertain economical times. Good news, bad news.
For sure there must be pension changes. When you consider all the changes that are now already fixed then £140 flat rate is not such a big financial issue.
Anyways, at 66 years young you are already there!!:D

By the way, and Off Topic.
I looked also at free bus passes. Only because I am getting close.
Or so I thought........... But according to the rules I cannot apply until September 2011:NoNo:
Complicated eligibility.... dependent upon pension age of women??
I will be 60 in December but unable to claim then.
Not that it's important.... At the moment.

Be happy, Don't worry.:icon_lol:

[johncar54]

I made some enquiries about a year ago to see what income my wife could expect from the UK Gov when I die.

As she is 32 years younger than me, she does not work, she will in effect get a lump sum of almost northing and then nothing more, ever. There is no widows pension any more.

At present we live in Spain and as my dependant she gets full national health cover. That will continue for just ONE YEAR after I die, and then NOTHING.

I don't know how a couple living in UK will fair but I think it would be the same.

[Arthur Little]

There is no widows pension any more.

:Erm: ... isn't there anything to replace it?


don't know how a couple living in UK will fair

Nor do I :NoNo: ... in the light of what you've just said! Up until now, it hasn't really concerned me, since I was only 47 when my first wife died. That was back in 1991, of course ... and I imagine the 'Widow's Pension' was still payable then. Makes me wonder how my second wife [whom I married in 2008] will fare on my death, as - God willing (and my own health permitting) - she'll be a naturalised British Citizen before that! :rolleyes:

[Terpe]

johncar54,
With govt state pension I believe all benefits 'die' with you.
With private pensions it's a lttle different. I have two private pensions. One states a loss of benefit amounting to 1.8% per year for each year my wife is over 10 years younger than me . The other states a widows pension of 80% of main pension.
Both index linked.
I have no idea about NHS cover outside of UK. I'd better check that

[johncar54]

My private pension will pay about £50 a week, which I hope is indexed linked, even through it is so little.

[JimOttley]

I did a little research and a little 'reading between the lines' regarding the new Universal Basic State Pension.

My take on this is that there's no doubt that the proposed new State Pension represents very good news for those women who have often been unable to build up sufficient National Insurance qualifying years under the current system.

But... don't forget that the pension age for women will see a rather sudden increase
to 66 in 2020 (maybe earlier). This will save money but at the same time hit a lot of women very hard. (So maybe women deserve something back anyway).

Governments have long since said that the timetable for state pension age increases will be need to be reviewed.

Don't expect to rule out the age increases, for all, being accelerated.

Do expect any future increases to be much more closely linked to rises in life expectancy.

Don't forget that stastically it still holds true that the poorer people in society do not tend to live as long as the wealthy.

As it stands right now The current maximum state pension rate is £97.65 for singles
and £156.15 for couples. Through various means tested payments it's possible to boost harder-up and older OAPs to £132.60 a week for singles, and £202.40 for couples.
It has been suggested that abolishing the very high cost of administering this means-testing would off-set the costs for a new flat rate pension of £140 per week

The new 'auto-enrolment' pension saving is set to begin from 2012.
Chances are that any major reforms would need to start introduction before this.

My conclusion:-

As always the devil will be in the detail
There's no such thing as a free lunch.

I have no idea how this is going to be implemented but think about it, if you thought you were eligible to retire aged 60 and suddenly it's age 66 that just cost you 30,000 pounds in your life, i.e. unpaid pension, equalization is a massive penalty for women!

Yes women live longer but they also pay more in general by having to look after the kids when they are younger, early retirement is some compensation for that and is now being taken away from them.

Yes they live longer but whose fault is that?

They probably get better exercise than we do looking after the kids ;) Good on them and they should still get to retire early.

PS

My sister retires on Friday good on her!

[Terpe]

JimOttley
It's a 'cost-down' driven strategy not a pension improvement strategy.
Spin will be focused on the perceived attractions.

Glad to hear your sister is already there.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Arthur Little]

Good on them and they should still get to retire early.

Jim, :iagree: ... women who've devoted their earlier years to caring full-time for their children deserve a much better deal than they're getting now!


My sister retires on Friday good on her!

All the best to her for a long and happy retirement :xxgrinning--00xx3: ... I'm sure she's more than earned it!

[johncar54]

Can't see what all the fuss is about, 66, what 's wrong with that ?

(Ops!!! I retired at 48 !!!! )


On a more serious note. If people retire at a later age then unemployment levels rise.

Although, I could never understand why police officers were encouraged to retire when they had done 30 years. (encouraged in that they could not draw their pension and stay on). Seemed ridiculous that when they may have been at their best, from a knowledge point of view, that they were not encouraged to stay on, albeit in a non operational role. A lot of my work in my later years was supervising and monitoring paperwork. I could have stayed on for years doing that and have released operational officers to spend more time on the streets doing their primary job, serving the public and preventing crime.

[grahamw48]

Hopefully that will have changed now..'ageism'.