UK: Retirement age to rise by as much as six months per year

[mercman24]

if the government stopped giving money-housing to people who have not paid one penny into the u.k. economy, then the uk would be floating in money, i think you will find the u,k, is the only country in the world that does this, why do you think that some immigrant travels across 6 or 7 countries to get to the uk, yes to get money for doing Jack Sh*t,

[mercman24]

i paid extra for 50 years to get an enhanced pension, now i hear those that have not paid a bean are to get a big rise, which will bring them up to just a few quid less than my pension, but my pension will not go up pro-rata, (like £40 extra) no mine stays the same, so you can see why i am peed off, when i have been paying 50 years to subsidise someone who has paid nothing, grr, wrote to my M.P. what a surprise didn't get a reply. when i was in the u.k. i could not understand why retirees were not more vocal about this situation, and as to the retirement age going up, if the country did not give money away to those that did not pay anything in, then the retirement age would have stayed the same, total mismangement. i can see why the UKIP party is gathering momentum, some of us have just had enough.

[SICHONSTEVE]

That was tongue in cheek, I sat and thought up the biggest losses , that you can invest in Thailand.

I am going to pull My millions out of My Private pension fund though, next April.

Because one thing I know for sure is this, when you retire in the U.K you have to have a massive private pension and lots of money, or nothing.

If you have a tiny pot like mine, in reserve,you will receive no state help.

I retired 6 years ago at the age of 51 and moved to Thailand so it doesn't really affect me.

I know someone who retired from my old company at the age of 65 - less than 1 week after his retirement party he keeled over with a massive heart attack and died!! That put the wind up me, so I decided that I wanted to enjoy a bit more of a longer 'non-working' life than he did which prompted me to take such a radical step.

I haven't looked back and couldn't have made a better decision!!!

[Maroon Watcher]

WOW. Why so many dying young. I thought everything was a Good life in Aus?

Maybe it's the cost of living....

How much demand is there for over 65s in jobs that require physical exertion? Even in skilled trades such as bricklaying, eventually you reach a stage where you can no longer continue, and that will often be before 70.

BTW in Oz we had a large tax increase with the introduction of the OAP. The retirement age was set at 65, because 2/3 of men died before reaching that age.

[Strangebrew]

Great tax savings plan you can retire with full pay upon your death we will deliver check to your coffin. Thanks for your service Oh by the way if check not cashed in 3 months we will stop all future payments.

[srn89]

If the Government stopped giving Aid to so many countries and subsidizing so many ''IMPORTS'' from Europe, India, Pakistan,The West Indies, Afghanistan just to mention a few they might have a chance of taking care of their own people.

Far too many DO Gooders in Government worrying about being classed as Racist if they do not give the handouts to people who have never contributed by paying their Taxes and National Insurance Contributions.

All politicians really the same, they will all end up with FAT PENSIONS for sure, they ensure their own are taken care of.

It is totally disgusting how pensioners are treated by the British Government.

Adopt the Russian and Australian attitudes to Asylum seekers and the rest of them ans stop being so Bloody Soft and STUPID.

[steveG]

IMHO one of the biggest problems the UK has is the layer upon layer of government. European, Central govt. (Westminster), Parliaments in Scotland etc,, local government and town and parish councils. approx. 6 million are employed in the public sector (about 19% of the working population and 10% of total population). The salary bill for this alone must be extremely high. The expenses of running all these administrations in terms of property, equipment etc,etc must also be very expensive. UK needs to drastically reduce public spending and get people into the private sector earning real money for UK plc.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/q2-2013/sty-public-section-employment.html

All these people are not earning money for UK plc. They have index linked public sector pension schemes which are impossible to get in the private sector.

Further I know from discussions with a UK police inspector (who didn't do difficult police work - he looked after events) that he would retire at age 47 on an extremely generous index linked pension for life. He lived in a big house in Surrey!

[robertson468]

The Conservative Party now governing the U.K is going to allow .

people with private pension funds, to withdraw the lot, next April.

Lots of cash will be sloshing about to give the feel good factor just before the next elections in May.

Most U.K voters are over 40 years old, a bribe to the older voters. Somebody else will have to pick up the Tab for their no private pension funds in years to come.

I will be pulling My money out, and I am looking to buy a house, a pig farm, a tourist resort, and a rubber plantation in Thailand to tide Me over when I retire there, along with My generous government pension.

At least you see through it. It's the last chair leg on the fire.

Don't do what you say in your last line though unless you have children there and even then only if you can trust them. Very risky.

And on what evidence do you base "very risky"? Is it because it is Thailand or because there is risk attached to any business venture? I have lived here for 10 years and have a lovely little resort which supplements my military, civil servant and Government Pensions very nicely thank you. Perhaps you need to do more research?

[farangmick]

How about paying no pension at all unless a person has paid, say, 30 years NI contributions not including credits for time unemployed. Full pension for everyone paid up, with a bit of leeway, say 5 years, for periods of unemployment, because shit can happen to anyone. Sod all for the permanently unemployed. Immigrants who genuinely work and pay tax in Britain get a pro rata pension based on the percentage of their working life they have paid NI contributions. Immigrants on benefit get everything stopped at age 65, bye bye bugger off.

[farangmick]

Easy for MPs. Any 70yr old can sit in the Commons and mumble unintelligable <deleted>. It is called being an elder statesman. In the real world, most people are shagged by then, alive but hardly capable of a full days graft.

[weegee]

WOW. Why so many dying young. I thought everything was a Good life in Aus?

Maybe it's the cost of living....

How much demand is there for over 65s in jobs that require physical exertion? Even in skilled trades such as bricklaying, eventually you reach a stage where you can no longer continue, and that will often be before 70.

BTW in Oz we had a large tax increase with the introduction of the OAP. The retirement age was set at 65, because 2/3 of men died before reaching that age.

From working their guts out to survive and try to give their kids a better life....huh...now they(the kids) are the ones deserting their Parents in old age.

Classic isnt it?

Edited October 8, 2014 by weegee

[MAJIC]

the problem as I see it is that money that was intended to support pensions should have been protected and untouchable for other budgets, instead through serious fiscal mismanagement mostly by the labour party they have used the pension pot for other things to cover their asses

Like I have said many times before - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should be in jail for gross stupidity and squandering UK tax payers money - just look what Brown did with the UK gold reserves - he should be locked up for that alone

I have been planning for years to get my UK state pension at 65 (I can afford it but I'm still pissed and angry) only to find that I will have to pay approx. 10k GBP back to the government in my first year were I at 65 should have been getting my money - they changed the rules upped the age by a year and in my opinion that has cost me "ten thousand pounds" some people have had it increased up to 3 years aged 68, that means for those affected you will be contributing 30k of your first 3 year pension to an incompetent squandering crowd of millionaires that have been in office in the UK and don't give a To55

"by the labour party they have used the pension pot for other things to cover their asses "

Unfortunately there is no Pension Pot and there never has been from day one. How the Pension Scheme works is very simple, money gets paid in by those working,and gets paid out to those already retired,and there is no accrued investment either!

[MAJIC]

the problem as I see it is that money that was intended to support pensions should have been protected and untouchable for other budgets, instead through serious fiscal mismanagement mostly by the labour party they have used the pension pot for other things to cover their asses

Like I have said many times before - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should be in jail for gross stupidity and squandering UK tax payers money - just look what Brown did with the UK gold reserves - he should be locked up for that alone

I have been planning for years to get my UK state pension at 65 (I can afford it but I'm still pissed and angry) only to find that I will have to pay approx. 10k GBP back to the government in my first year were I at 65 should have been getting my money - they changed the rules upped the age by a year and in my opinion that has cost me "ten thousand pounds" some people have had it increased up to 3 years aged 68, that means for those affected you will be contributing 30k of your first 3 year pension to an incompetent squandering crowd of millionaires that have been in office in the UK and don't give a To55

"by the labour party they have used the pension pot for other things to cover their asses "

Unfortunately there is no Pension Pot and there never has been from day one. How the Pension Scheme works is very simple, money gets paid in by those working,and gets paid out to those already retired,and there is no accrued investment either!

Anyone with half a brain could see such a hair brained scheme was bound to break down,sooner or later!

[DefaultName]

I'm Civil Service and like everybody else I'm paying pension credits every year. here's the kicker though; because of the Civil Service pension we're paying into, we don't get one years credit for one year paid in, and the really good bit is that we don't know how much we do get. Is it a third, a half, two thirds, or what? They won't tell us. They keep saying the decision hasn't been made yet. How are you supposed to plan your life on that?

And before anyone starts on the "gold plated" Civil Service pensions that keep getting mentioned in the press, personally I'll have 20 years in at retirement but my pension will still be in four figures.

[JockPieandBeans]

the problem as I see it is that money that was intended to support pensions should have been protected and untouchable for other budgets, instead through serious fiscal mismanagement mostly by the labour party they have used the pension pot for other things to cover their asses

Like I have said many times before - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should be in jail for gross stupidity and squandering UK tax payers money - just look what Brown did with the UK gold reserves - he should be locked up for that alone

I have been planning for years to get my UK state pension at 65 (I can afford it but I'm still pissed and angry) only to find that I will have to pay approx. 10k GBP back to the government in my first year were I at 65 should have been getting my money - they changed the rules upped the age by a year and in my opinion that has cost me "ten thousand pounds" some people have had it increased up to 3 years aged 68, that means for those affected you will be contributing 30k of your first 3 year pension to an incompetent squandering crowd of millionaires that have been in office in the UK and don't give a To55

"by the labour party they have used the pension pot for other things to cover their asses "

Unfortunately there is no Pension Pot and there never has been from day one. How the Pension Scheme works is very simple, money gets paid in by those working,and gets paid out to those already retired,and there is no accrued investment either!

Anyone with half a brain could see such a hair brained scheme was bound to break down,sooner or later!

Therein lies the problem.

UK Politicians and half a brain.

Living proof that an expensive education means jack sh!t.

[MJP]

The Conservative Party now governing the U.K is going to allow .

people with private pension funds, to withdraw the lot, next April.

Lots of cash will be sloshing about to give the feel good factor just before the next elections in May.

Most U.K voters are over 40 years old, a bribe to the older voters. Somebody else will have to pick up the Tab for their no private pension funds in years to come.

I will be pulling My money out, and I am looking to buy a house, a pig farm, a tourist resort, and a rubber plantation in Thailand to tide Me over when I retire there, along with My generous government pension.

At least you see through it. It's the last chair leg on the fire.

Don't do what you say in your last line though unless you have children there and even then only if you can trust them. Very risky.

And on what evidence do you base "very risky"? Is it because it is Thailand or because there is risk attached to any business venture? I have lived here for 10 years and have a lovely little resort which supplements my military, civil servant and Government Pensions very nicely thank you. Perhaps you need to do more research?

"which supplements my military, civil servant and Government Pensions"

So no risk to you then.

[Baerboxer]

I've got a long way to go before reaching retirement. Have made 11 years of NI contributions. I could pay voluntarily to get to the 25-30 years needed for a full state pension, helping the government to pay the pensions of the opld guys now, but why would I do that when I have no faith I'd ever get it back? Raise NI contributions so that people can retire at 65 if that's what is needed. What they've done is disastrous for state pensions, and is exactly what they want so that we all go off and buy the private pensions from their banker friends so we can get raped by them instead.

Bloody Tories.

True - but not just the Conservatives. Loony Labor squandered billions at both local and central government level. The political leaders since and including the likes of Thatcher and Blair, Brown have been disasters. But they managed to enrich themselves and their banker mates whilst screwing things for the rest of us and helping themselves to our money to pay for it.

Greasy Cameron, Toady Miliband with big Balls Ed, and Cloggy Clegg. An inspiring choice at the next GE.

Maybe I misjudged Lord Salmond after all

[Baerboxer]

The Conservative Party now governing the U.K is going to allow .

people with private pension funds, to withdraw the lot, next April.

Lots of cash will be sloshing about to give the feel good factor just before the next elections in May.

Most U.K voters are over 40 years old, a bribe to the older voters. Somebody else will have to pick up the Tab for their no private pension funds in years to come.

I will be pulling My money out, and I am looking to buy a house, a pig farm, a tourist resort, and a rubber plantation in Thailand to tide Me over when I retire there, along with My generous government pension.

At least you see through it. It's the last chair leg on the fire.

Don't do what you say in your last line though unless you have children there and even then only if you can trust them. Very risky.

And on what evidence do you base "very risky"? Is it because it is Thailand or because there is risk attached to any business venture? I have lived here for 10 years and have a lovely little resort which supplements my military, civil servant and Government Pensions very nicely thank you. Perhaps you need to do more research?

"which supplements my military, civil servant and Government Pensions"

So no risk to you then.

Wait till the new tax rule changes nibble at his three public sector pensions !

[MJP]

^^ BB, what prey tell is this? Loss of personal allowance for expats?

[MAJIC]

The Conservative Party now governing the U.K is going to allow .

people with private pension funds, to withdraw the lot, next April.

Lots of cash will be sloshing about to give the feel good factor just before the next elections in May.

Most U.K voters are over 40 years old, a bribe to the older voters. Somebody else will have to pick up the Tab for their no private pension funds in years to come.

I will be pulling My money out, and I am looking to buy a house, a pig farm, a tourist resort, and a rubber plantation in Thailand to tide Me over when I retire there, along with My generous government pension.

At least you see through it. It's the last chair leg on the fire.

Don't do what you say in your last line though unless you have children there and even then only if you can trust them. Very risky.

And on what evidence do you base "very risky"? Is it because it is Thailand or because there is risk attached to any business venture? I have lived here for 10 years and have a lovely little resort which supplements my military, civil servant and Government Pensions very nicely thank you. Perhaps you need to do more research?

"which supplements my military, civil servant and Government Pensions"

So no risk to you then.

They must have been 3 Paltry Pensions barely off the starting blocks!

[Jonmarleesco]

This is the British government just catching on to reality. The state pension, in its current form, has been predictably unsustainable for years. One move they have studiously avoided is to raise womens' retirement age beyond that of men. Yet women outlive men by an average of seven years.

And no one needs to work an extra year to get 10% more for life. The option already exists to defer the pension, as does one to take a lump sum from deferred, and accrued, pension benefits.

[MJP]

^^ MAJIC, thing is he has a basic yet constant income from a (hopefully) stable source. I've seen people lose the lot in Thailand numerous times, destitute, nothing left. There's no way I'd recommend going all in on any venture there. But of course Mr. Robertson hasn't done that. He's not all in. I'm glad he's made a success of it though and I think military discipline probably helped in that regard.

For younger people facing a life free of the horrors of enjoying a retirement income the Thailand venture thing simply isn't a wise option.

[Bwanatickey]

Well I will be in the money next April, already safe offers of investing in a Thai business that will give Me an amazingly comfortable ride in retirement, are being offered to Me.

Buy Buy Buy

into my success.

[7by7]

<snip>

Unfortunately there is no Pension Pot and there never has been from day one. How the Pension Scheme works is very simple, money gets paid in by those working,and gets paid out to those already retired,and there is no accrued investment either!

Exactly; there is, and never has been, a state pension pot.

Since the National Insurance scheme started in 1948 the contributions paid by those working have been used to pay the pensions of those retired.

This was fine when the working population far outnumbered the retired one; in 1948 the UK average age at death for men was 66, women 71.

In 2012, the latest I can find figures for, it was 79 for men, 82 for women.

Add to that the falling birth rate, and you can see that a proportionally lower working population is trying to support a proportionally larger retired one.

This is a problem that has been foreseen seen the late 1970s, if not before; but successive governments have been afraid to bite the bullet and do something about it; it would lose them votes.

But the time has come, the system has already reached breaking point; this may be too little, too late, but it's something.

It is ironic that some have chosen this subject for another round of immigrant bashing; it is the NICs paid by those immigrants and their children which has slowed the decline of the state scheme; without them the situation would have gotten a lot worse a lot sooner.

In my opinion, the state scheme as it stands needs to be abolished.

In it's place,

• continue to fund the state pensions of those currently retired from general taxation;
• transfer the contributions paid by those still working into properly managed funds so that each individual has their own, state run pension fund, similar to a private pension;
• new workers to have their NICs paid directly into such a fund from day one;
• encourage all workers to join additional, private schemes, either with their employer or individually, as is currently happening.

I used to work in the private pensions industry back in the 1980s and we had a saying: "If you rely on the state when you retire; you'll be in one!"

Edited October 9, 2014 by 7by7

[MAJIC]

<snip>

Unfortunately there is no Pension Pot and there never has been from day one. How the Pension Scheme works is very simple, money gets paid in by those working,and gets paid out to those already retired,and there is no accrued investment either!

Exactly; there is, and never has been, a state pension pot.

Since the National Insurance scheme started in 1948 the contributions paid by those working have been used to pay the pensions of those retired.

This was fine when the working population far outnumbered the retired one; in 1948 the UK average age at death for men was 66, women 71.

In 2012, the latest I can find figures for, it was 79 for men, 82 for women.

Add to that the falling birth rate, and you can see that a proportionally lower working population is trying to support a proportionally larger retired one.

This is a problem that has been foreseen seen the late 1970s, if not before; but successive governments have been afraid to bite the bullet and do something about it; it would lose them votes.

But the time has come, the system has already reached breaking point; this may be too little, too late, but it's something.

It is ironic that some have chosen this subject for another round of immigrant bashing; it is the NICs paid by those immigrants and their children which has slowed the decline of the state scheme; without them the situation would have gotten a lot worse a lot sooner.

In my opinion, the state scheme as it stands needs to be abolished.

In it's place,

• continue to fund the state pensions of those currently retired from general taxation;
• transfer the contributions paid by those still working into properly managed funds so that each individual has their own, state run pension fund, similar to a private pension;
• new workers to have their NICs paid directly into such a fund from day one;
• encourage all workers to join additional, private schemes, either with their employer or individually, as is currently happening.

I used to work in the private pensions industry back in the 1980s and we had a saying: "If you rely on the state when you retire; you'll be in one!"

Agreed on your suggestions for the future of Pensions,but to be fair to the Politicians,in the 80s they did make a small effort to allow the Taxpayer,the right to opt out of SERPS,when it was financially prudent, by starting there own Private Pension Scheme, later on the Private Pension Scheme Providers where permitted to draw down from central government an annual amount to boost up the Private Pension,some people did very well from this,much later the Pension Providers advised when it was best for their customers to contract back in,for optimum gain on their State Pension!

Edited October 9, 2014 by MAJIC

[belg]

welcome to ag of : work till you die

while many thousands of new immigrants, never lift a finger , contribute to anything except the rising crime statistics

maybe many western countries should act more like thailand, in the sence of : show xx amount of money each year to prove you can live by your own means, OR GET THE HELL OUT

Edited October 10, 2014 by belg

[7by7]

welcome to ag of : work till you die

while many thousands of new immigrants, never lift a finger , contribute to anything except the rising crime statistics

maybe many western countries should act more like thailand, in the sence of : show xx amount of money each year to prove you can live by your own means, OR GET THE HELL OUT

Maybe you should check up on the UK immigration rules; especially those regarding required income and access, or rather no access, to public funds before you make such ignorant comments.

As I said before; it is ironic that some have chosen this subject for another round of immigrant bashing; it is the NICs paid by those immigrants and their children which has slowed the decline of the state scheme; without them the situation would have gotten a lot worse a lot sooner.

[Pompey50]

Once we get out the EU we will be saving a lot of money.

Look how much EU (and non-EU) migrants cost the taxpayer every year.

Coming out of Europe will save 55 million a day just for starters. That in itself will cover around 2.7 million pension payments per week.

And how much will leaving the EU cost us?

40% of UK's trade is with the EU if you think the other EU nations will just let us do what we want without penalty then you are living in cloud cuckoo land. And what about the millions of Brits who live and work in the EU? Not to mention the Brits that claim benefits in other member sates. (10,000 in Germany alone).

Here is a quote from a 2010 article

Compared to the 2.3 million EU citizens in the UK, which includes people who came after Poland and nine other states joined the Union in 2004, British consular authorities estimate that 2.2 million Britons live in the other 26 EU countries, excluding Croatia, which joined in 2013.

A previous response to an Oakeshott question in January said another 900 Britons live in Croatia, putting the net immigration-emigration ratio even closer to par, however.

The country breakdown says just over 1 million British people live in Spain.

Other popular destinations are: France (330,000); Ireland (329,000); Germany (107,000); Cyprus (65,000); the Netherlands (48,000); Greece (45,000); Portugal (39,000); and Italy (37,000).

If we leave the EU we will see financial collapse on a scale that is hard to imagine. These are not scare story's but basic economics, UK goods would be subject to EU import tariffs, making goods made in the UK much more expensive in the EU. And by the way what about the money and project funding we get from the EU?. Why do most business leaders not want us to leave the EU?

And a fact for you, 55M a day is our gross contribution taking out what we get back it is net contribution of 33M. When things are tough in your home country it is easy to blame 'Johnny foreigner' for a country's woes.

The real problem is huge cooperation's and very wealthy individuals not really paying tax in any jurisdiction.

Do you think the 1% or our politicians will have to work until they drop?

[Pompey50]

the problem as I see it is that money that was intended to support pensions should have been protected and untouchable for other budgets, instead through serious fiscal mismanagement mostly by the labour party they have used the pension pot for other things to cover their asses

Like I have said many times before - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should be in jail for gross stupidity and squandering UK tax payers money - just look what Brown did with the UK gold reserves - he should be locked up for that alone

I have been planning for years to get my UK state pension at 65 (I can afford it but I'm still pissed and angry) only to find that I will have to pay approx. 10k GBP back to the government in my first year were I at 65 should have been getting my money - they changed the rules upped the age by a year and in my opinion that has cost me "ten thousand pounds" some people have had it increased up to 3 years aged 68, that means for those affected you will be contributing 30k of your first 3 year pension to an incompetent squandering crowd of millionaires that have been in office in the UK and don't give a To55

Ah I smell a load of right wing rubbish here. You are blaming Brown and Blair. But what about the 17 years of Tory miss-rule we had before that. This is an issue that has been building up for years, long before Blair and Brown where even born. Successive governments have not put the money aside and frankly a persons contributions do not actually cover the cost of a pension anyway. And yes they introduced and increase in pension age. They had to after 17 years of Tory's spending the pension money and giving away profitable state owned company's away to their friends in the city. Oh and let us not forget the massive deregulation of the financial sector and banks led by Thatcher.

[steve187]

if costs are a factor, the uk should stop giving 60 year olds free public transport, free meds, heating allowance etc and make it same age as retirement.

they have started, bus passes and pension credits ar now set to your personal state retirement age