Pensions

Q. Does the whole pension and benefit system need reform? Tell us your thoughts.

The current state pension scheme is unsustainable. More and more people are living longer. Even allowing for the expansion of the population, which this government has actively encouraged, fewer and fewer people will be providing the state with the income required to pay an aging population a sensible pension. The government has introduced new retirement ages which gradually come into force over the next few years. They should bring forward these new dates by at least four years.

They have also introduced a new law, which require all employees to pay 5% of their salary into a pension scheme. However they have decided not to introduce this law until 20???, which is too late. It must be done immediately.

Unfortunately this government has actively encouraged people to believe that the state will provide for them, whatever the situation. They have introduced all manner of schemes, which supposedly help the lower paid and the poor. The reality is that the majority of the schemes only work for a tiny minority of the population. The tax-credit scheme, the additional pension scheme, to name but two, are so complicated that large numbers of people, who are entitled to claim, don’t, because either they don’t realise they qualify or find the process so complicated they don’t bother.

The whole pension and benefit system needs fundamental reform. All ideas considered.

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