Raising the State Pension

[somabc]

The government is planning a "very radical" overhaul of the state pension, Business Secretary Vince Cable says.

 

He did not confirm newspaper reports that it could rise from about £97 a week for a single person to £140.

 

BBC News - Vince Cable vows 'decent' state pension for all

 

I'm surprised that they are planning to increase the state pension when the coalition is committed to cutting public expenditure and the rising number of pensioners means that the budget is already due to rise considerably.

 

Is this because Pensioners always vote?

[jamesb]

BBC News - Vince Cable vows 'decent' state pension for all

 

I'm surprised that they are planning to increase the state pension when the coalition is committed to cutting public expenditure and the rising number of pensioners means that the budget is already due to rise considerably.

 

Is this because Pensioners always vote?

 

Yes.

 

Not to mention that there are more and more of them every day.

[somabc]

But what happens when there is more money spent on pensions than there is being paid into National Insurance?

[tmcd35]

We implant crystals into every ones palms and shot them when the crystal turns red?

[localzuk]

The idea, as they seem to be explaining it is as follows:

 

Remove the complex system that currently exists, that does various types of means testing etc...

Increase the pension age to 66

 

With the money made from the increase, and from the lowered admin this will cover the changes.

 

Whether or not this is true would be for economists to figure out. Me? I think it seems a little hopeful.

[jamesb]

The idea, as they seem to be explaining it is as follows:

 

Remove the complex system that currently exists, that does various types of means testing etc...

Increase the pension age to 66

 

With the money made from the increase, and from the lowered admin this will cover the changes.

 

Whether or not this is true would be for economists to figure out. Me? I think it seems a little hopeful.

 

Personally I think that by the time I get to retirement age, it'll probably be around 80. Just bump the age up by a year every few years.

 

Of course, such a move makes quality of life much more important in later life, as well as the current focus on simple length of life. It'll also be more important to be able to move into more flexible working patterns as people age, provide more holidays and so on. I suspect we'll move into more of a situation where instead of simply ceasing work, people continue to work as long as they can but reduce the hours/amount of work they do.

 

That's my most optimistic slant on trends.

[Guest Guest]

But what happens when there is more money spent on pensions than there is being paid into National Insurance?

 

Thats why the last government loved immigration so much, the working population was already getting to a point 5-10 years ago where it couldnt pay for the pensioners (never mind teh fact they raided the pensions pot so they could pish it up the wall...)

[AyatollahPies]

We implant crystals into every ones palms and shot them when the crystal turns red?

 

As long as we get our own Jenny Agutters' each.

 

;-)

[witch]

As long as we get our own Jenny Agutters' each.

 

;-)

 

Or Michael York...

[AyatollahPies]

Forgot that the former Mrs Majors was in it too.

 

What a great decade the 70s was for sci-fi.

 

(this calls for a thread of it's own Mr Pies)

[witch]

Forgot that the former Mrs Majors was in it too.

 

What a great decade the 70s was for sci-fi.

 

(this calls for a thread of it's own Mr Pies)

 

Seconded

[torledo]

The idea, as they seem to be explaining it is as follows:

 

Remove the complex system that currently exists, that does various types of means testing etc...

Increase the pension age to 66

 

With the money made from the increase, and from the lowered admin this will cover the changes.

 

Whether or not this is true would be for economists to figure out. Me? I think it seems a little hopeful.

 

as you say, they are claiming this to be cost neutral so basically it won't 'save' any money.

 

as for the administrative burden of means testing, it is what it is....i'd rather spend tens of millions a year to assess incomes and savings of pensioners to ensure that atleast some redistribution occurs via the pension credit. it's bad enough at present that millionaire pensioners get free tv licenses and winter fuel allowances, will even the impact of the pension credit be equalised by this ?

 

under the proposed system, from what i can gather the low income pensioner may not be worse off, but it also means the better off will be better off by eliminating means testing. expect more of the same from the coalishun i'm afraid, they'll widen the income inequality gap still further under the guise of removing 'complexity' but not really caring so much about the distribution of taxes and benefits. which is the whole ruddy point of taxes and benefits.

[beeswax]

But what happens when there is more money spent on pensions than there is being paid into National Insurance?

 

If I heard Mr. Cable correctly, he stated that it didn't matter how much you'd paid in NI contributions, everyone would get the flat rate £140; and in a reverse of the decision to means test Child Benefit, this proposed new pension wouldn't be means tested in order to save administrative costs.

[torledo]

But what happens when there is more money spent on pensions than there is being paid into National Insurance?

 

er, they continue to pay the pensions.

 

the uk govt. can never run out of money to pay out pensions even if the amounts paid out are not covered by national insurance contributions.

[torledo]

and in a reverse of the decision to means test Child Benefit, this proposed new pension wouldn't be means tested in order to save administrative costs.

 

or... add unnecessary complexity with one hand, and remove necessary complexity with the other.

 

nice.