Topic: Women in line for pensions boost

[Redsfan71]

Women in line for pensions boost 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7687980.stm
 
The new Pensions Bill will go before the House of Lords next week
Hundreds of thousands more women will be able to claim a full state pension from 2010, ministers have announced.

Currently 90% of men but 35% of women qualify for the full £87 a week - many gave up work to care for children so did not make sufficient NI payments.

They had been able to "buy back" up to six years but a Pensions Bill amendment will allow people to buy another six years with a one-off payment.

The changes would affect men and women who reach state pension age between 5 April 2008 and 5 April 2015 and already have 20 years on their National Insurance record.

'Fair and affordable'

It is estimated that 90% of those who will benefit will be women.

The move follows a long cross-party campaign, led by former Labour minister Baroness Hollis, but ministers had resisted efforts arguing it was not affordable.

In 2007 the government was defeated in the House of Lords who voted through a similar amendment on the Pensions Bill.

It had indicated it would support the plan but later dropped the idea, saying it would not help the poorest pensioners.

BBC political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue said the government had been facing another defeat on the issue in the Lords next week.

Announcing the changes, Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said: "This is a fair, affordable and straightforward and it will give more people the chance of a secure future to look forward to in retirement."

Up to 555,000 people could benefit from the policy change, according to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mr Purnell says the Pensions Bill means that by 2010 about 75% of women reaching state pension age would be entitled to a full basic state pension, and by 2025 that would rise to 90%.

He is also expected to announce a new system of NI credits which will recognise caring for children or a disabled person in the same way as paid work.

Dr Ros Altmann, head of the Pensions Action Group, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The idea is that the cost of buying a year's worth of extra pension is much less than the value of the extra pension you will get during a normal period of retirement."

Buying an extra year's worth of pension should cost around £400, and many women will find it a good investment, even if they have to borrow money to afford it, said Dr Altmann.

But she warned that women should take advice before committing money, as a sizeable proportion of those on low and middle incomes will anyway be entitled to £130 a week in state pension under the pension credit.

The government had already announced it was to reduce the level of NI contributions needed for a full state pension.

From 2010 men and women will need to have paid contributions for just 30 years. Currently men need 44 years of contributions while women need 39 years.
 

[lainey]

heard about this earlier

didn't know or realise about the "But she warned that women should take advice before committing money, as a sizeable proportion of those on low and middle incomes will anyway be entitled to £130 a week in state pension under the pension credit. " bit though

still doesn't bare thinking about trying to live on £130 a week

[Redsfan71]

still doesn't bare thinking about trying to live on £130 a week

I know what you mean Lainey, but very often that isn't all they have to live on.  Most OAP's houses are bought and paid for or if not on that level of support the rent will be paid for them, council tax is set at zero so the £130 is for heating, lights and food plus those extra little bits such as pressies.  I know it's not a lot and it certainly doesn't give you a high standard of living but it is better than in foirst looks.  Only problem is you have to fill in a lot of forms to get all your entitled to and thats what causes the problems

[Nobby Reserve]

The International Longevity Centre UK are predicting that the State Pension age will need to keep increasingly, and reach 71 for those born after 1970.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/05/uk-state-pension-age-will-soon-need-to-rise-to-71-say-experts#:~:text=The%20retirement%20age%20will%20have,expected%20to%20rise%20to%2068.


That will fuck my plans up big time. I'm just 52 and for the past several years have been pining to be able to retire. I don't hate work; I just cannot motivate myself for anything but brief bursts, and I have a growing fear something that I've not done is going to catch up with me.

[.adam]

To be frank, nobody in their right mind who is of a younger age should be planning on the state pension to protect them when they retire.

My retirement planning is predicated on receiving zero state pension even though I'll have enough qualifying years to receive it under today's rules.

Once the baby boomer generation starts to die off, the dogmatic defense of the state pension will start to drop away with it. I anticipate that at the very least it'll become means tested.

[west_london_red]

To be frank, nobody in their right mind who is of a younger age should be planning on the state pension to protect them when they retire.

My retirement planning is predicated on receiving zero state pension even though I'll have enough qualifying years to receive it under today's rules.

Once the baby boomer generation starts to die off, the dogmatic defense of the state pension will start to drop away with it. I anticipate that at the very least it'll become means tested.

Same, I’m fortunate to have one of the very best work place pensions in the country (final salary and can take my full pension at 60) and that’s what I factor in to my plans, I don’t factor in the state pension into anything. I already have 23 full years of NI contributions and will hit the 35 years to earn the full state pension when im 54 but won’t get diddley squat until im 70 (if i make it that long!)

One thing I did learn recently is that some work pensions (I think mine does this) is that you can ask for more money at the beginning of your retirement until the state pension kicks in, then when the state pension starts your work place pension reduces to balance it out.

[Nobby Reserve]

I calculate that, with both me and my missus getting the state pension, when added to our private pensions, we'll roundabout have not much short of the income we have now. Knock £1,700/month out that and we're fucked.

As in, have-to-sell-up fucked.

I've paid National Insurance for 36 years and counting. The reason for NI was chiefly to fund my state pension.

If I find that I've paid all those tens of thousands to fund the cushy pensions of fucking boomers who've had all the financial advantages in life then pulled the ladder up, and whilst there exist billionaires and multi-millionaires dodging paying their fair share of tax, I reckon I'll go on a murder spree. Of billionaire boomers.

But it's not going to happen like that. Because there's no way any party would advocate scrapping the State Pension (and I doubt it would be lawful to do so)

[Nobby Reserve]

Same, I’m fortunate to have one of the very best work place pensions in the country (final salary and can take my full pension at 60)

Can that pension be more than 50% of your salary, though?

I worked for the Civil Service for 9 years and that was a non-contributory final salary. But my 9 years only counts for 9/80'ths of my final salary (which, because it was the public sector and I was only a grunt, was shite). It's been index-linking for 24 years, so it's grown. But it will still only be (today's money) about £200/month.

[Crosby Nick]

How are final salary pensions still a thing and how were they ever possible? Always remember a mate at school whose dad was retired even then. Think he’d worked at ICI. Retired late 40s I think. Fucking tough for some!

[west_london_red]

Can that pension be more than 50% of your salary, though?

I worked for the Civil Service for 9 years and that was a non-contributory final salary. But my 9 years only counts for 9/80'ths of my final salary (which, because it was the public sector and I was only a grunt, was shite). It's been index-linking for 24 years, so it's grown. But it will still only be (today's money) about £200/month.

Ours is similar but it’s 1/60th for each year rather then 1/80th for each year so after 30 years I’ll get half my salary, I’m currently coming up to my 16th year so another 14 to go!

[west_london_red]

But it's not going to happen like that. Because there's no way any party would advocate scrapping the State Pension (and I doubt it would be lawful to do so)

No one will scrap it, but if they just keep pushing the age up we’re still getting screwed.

My dad died a few months ago, his passport said he was 72 but really he was closer to 70 (his age was changed when he came to the country) so he at least got 7 years of pension before he passed after 38 off years of NI, if I kick the bucket at the same age I’ll never even see a state pension.

[fridgepants]

Here's the thing that freaks me out - the state pension has historically been expected to be paid to people who had paid off a mortgage during their working life, or to also cover social rents for those not in that position, so that they had money to cover the rest of their expenses and hopefully a little left over too. If it still exists when people in their 20s - largely expecting to rent for the rest of their lives, some of them whilst paying off massive student debts - retire, how is it going to cover escalating private rents or the mortgage payments people will still be making due to buying much later in life? And if there's no house to be sold to fund social care, as is the way it's funded now for homeowners who go into it, how is that cost covered for a much higher proportion of the aging population? Feels like the housing crisis is going to be a pensions crisis within a couple of generations and essentially nobody is going to afford to be able to retire. Especially with life expectancy growing each decade.

I'm banking on my family medical history being my retirement plan, personally. No need to think much about what happens after 70 when you've got heart disease and cancer on both sides of the family, there'll be no Sports Direct Retirement Home (every room comes with a free giant mug to put your dentures in!) for me.

[reddebs]

I calculate that, with both me and my missus getting the state pension, when added to our private pensions, we'll roundabout have not much short of the income we have now. Knock £1,700/month out that and we're fucked.

As in, have-to-sell-up fucked.

I've paid National Insurance for 36 years and counting. The reason for NI was chiefly to fund my state pension.

If I find that I've paid all those tens of thousands to fund the cushy pensions of fucking boomers who've had all the financial advantages in life then pulled the ladder up, and whilst there exist billionaires and multi-millionaires dodging paying their fair share of tax, I reckon I'll go on a murder spree. Of billionaire boomers.

But it's not going to happen like that. Because there's no way any party would advocate scrapping the State Pension (and I doubt it would be lawful to do so)

I find this attitude particularly offensive mate. 

I've no idea what age you are or your particular circumstances but as a "boomer" (a term I fucking hate btw) I'd love to know how you have contributed thousands to fund our "cushy pensions"?

I've worked for over 50yrs to pay for "my own cushy state pension".  And I'm still fucking working!!

I've never earned more than minimum wage and never had a job that provided me with a works pension, neither have I ever had the luxury of being able to afford a private pension.

I've owned my own house once, briefly, before it was repossessed due to interest rates going through the roof and no longer being able to afford to pay for it.

So just fuck off with this boomer fucking shit mate cos some of you bastards moaning about "our cushy lives" and "cushy fucking state pensions" have no fucking idea how fucking hard our lives have been and we still have it fucking hard.

It's not the first time on this forum that I've felt utterly abused and degraded with this mindset, not everyone in their 60s are bordering on millionaires having lived the life of riley 

[Red-Soldier]

I find this attitude particularly offensive mate. 

I've no idea what age you are or your particular circumstances but as a "boomer" (a term I fucking hate btw) I'd love to know how you have contributed thousands to fund our "cushy pensions"?

I've worked for over 50yrs to pay for "my own cushy state pension".  And I'm still fucking working!!

I've never earned more than minimum wage and never had a job that provided me with a works pension, neither have I ever had the luxury of being able to afford a private pension.

I've owned my own house once, briefly, before it was repossessed due to interest rates going through the roof and no longer being able to afford to pay for it.

So just fuck off with this boomer fucking shit mate cos some of you bastards moaning about "our cushy lives" and "cushy fucking state pensions" have no fucking idea how fucking hard our lives have been and we still have it fucking hard.

It's not the first time on this forum that I've felt utterly abused and degraded with this mindset, not everyone in their 60s are bordering on millionaires having lived the life of riley 

Not defending Nobby's attitude, here, but just responding to the part in bold.

You don't pay contributions for your own pension, you pay them towards the people who are already retired/pensioners.  You're paying for current pensioners and when you retire, working people will be contributing to yours, etc.

Also, I don't think you fall into the boomer category, Debs.  Too young 

[Millie]

I'm with Debs on this.  I'm a similar age and do not have a private pension.  Not something us women were encouraged to do  back in the day, and no one I have ever worked for had any pension schemes anyway.  So I will be relying on my state pension, which I will receive in another four years, to live. 

I was fully expecting to be receiving my pension at 60 but been screwed over on that as well.

Don't know what all these financial advantages are that I'm supposed to have? But hey ho such is life I suppose.

Oh and we are classed as "boomers".

[Riquende]

Boomers are currently 60 and up from what I can make out. Gen X is early/mid 40s up until 59. I'm 43 in July and most sources put me down as a Millennial but I have seen some bands where the Gen X range goes to '81, so where I am is about that cusp.

And yes, that's the pension 'con' - you're not contributing to your own pot as you work, you're paying off the current retirees. This is why there's such a so-called pension timebomb as people live longer and we have smaller families on average - without net immigration boosting the workforce, fewer and fewer workers will be supporting the pensions of more and more retired folk over time. Hence, pensions have to stagnate, or pension ages have to go up, or we have to rapidly grow the workforce to take up the slack.

I'm sorry if your personal circumstances don't map to the generational averages, but you're not invalidating the statistical data simply by bucking trends - it's a fact that the 'Boomer' generation on average has enjoyed a lot of post-war advantages that are in the process of being pulled away from younger folk. Cheaper housing, better pensions, earlier retirement to reach for an easy three.

Edit - just to make a further inference from this - if the women of the Boomer generation aren't generally getting these advantages, then it just shows how much more skewed it is in favour of men aged 60+. And yes, it is true that growing up young in those days did come with an expectation that the average woman would likely marry, prioritise children over her own career and rely far more on their husband's lifetime earnings and pension.

[Riquende]

Don't know what all these financial advantages are that I'm supposed to have?

You personally aren't "supposed to have" anything, but you belong to a demographic group that on average does.

[filopastry]

I am hammering as much as I can into my private pension now.

Fully expecting that I won't be wanted in work long before I hit whatever state pension is by the time I am due to retire.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Won't be happy until they have parity will they.

[fridgepants]

I used to think that I should pay off my student loan before starting a workplace pension, and I'm very glad I didn't. Just hoing we can manage to buy our own place and pay it off before we retire/get thrown to the wolves, because it will probably be about enough to buy a packet of crisps after thirty years of inflation.

[kavah]

Regarding the UK's demographics, the good news for the older generation ( the over 50s), is that there are decent numbers of 30-somethings to maintain the triple lock. Obviously those same millennials are fucked if you look down the chart).



https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-kingdom/#:~:text=White%2087.2%25%2C%20Black%2FAfrican,3.7%25%20(2011%20est.)