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,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... 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.
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?
Arghh ... enough procrastinating, Mr Cable ... get properly "wired-up" ... and sooner rather than later!
