Millions of people now in their forties could have to work at least an extra year before they receive their state pension, ministers revealed yesterday.

The Government confirmed it is planning to bring forward an increase in the state pension age to 67 to as early as 2026.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the timetable for raising the age was ‘too slow’.

At the moment, the age at which people can claim their state pension is due to increase to 67 in 2036 and 68 by 2046.

While no firm decisions have yet been taken, ministers made clear that they would like to bring forward the retirement age change.

They argued that more drastic action needs to be taken to avert a pensions crisis as life expectancy continues to rise.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1XlBBZLuz

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Is there any truth in what a person will believe in

Hi Crymomma

I see you have picked up and one of the most devastating news to hit ordinary working people in the UK.

You see, I have now retired and one of the reasons I did retire was that the UK government had made it clear that if I, and thousands of others, wanted to work any longer then we risk having our pensions cut. In other words, we would have to work longer for less.

I interpret this to mean "work until you drop dead because you won't be able to afford retirement".

What the government policy means in real terms is that ordinary people will have to make a choice at a very early age, possibly in their teens or early 20s, and that's the following:

Do you want to buy a house or save for your retirement because you won't be able to do both?

The future for youngsters in the UK (and possibly the whole western world) looks bleak.



UK Bob

Strange proposal. We have the same thing happening here and in Denmark, but with one huge difference. It will happen gradually, thus allowing the entire working infrastructure to adapt.

By 2015 (I think it was 2015) every working citizen will have to give at least 15% of all earnings towards some kind on pension fund. So this means it will be counted towards all wage negotiations. Like right now I am paying 10%, but this has been done through negotiations with my workplace in November last year, once the proposal was finalized, resulting in only a small actual wage increase, but my employer now pays 10% extra into a pension account of mine on top of the wages.

Other places, especially state run, have been doing this sort of thing for years, so it's really a minor change.

People who have been working half their lives or more without a system like this will not have their entire government paid pensions removed, but only the parts that they should have earned/paid themselves after the proposal went through.

So all in all as it is right now, this is a wage increase hitting companies rather than the ordinary working people.

This will of course gradually result in price increases, but looking at the very scary prognosis of continuing to ignore the facts, the move is highly understandable IMO.

BTW here state pension age has been 67 years for most people for as long as I can remember.

Well Sleepless

From what you have written it seems that companies in Denmark and the Faroe Islands are encouraged to have a pension fund where both employee and employer are encouraged to contribute to.

Most UK companies were like that in the recent past but companies now put their pension funds in the stock exchange, therefore the employee does not know, until he or she retires, what will be in the pension pot.

Gambling with your retirement is not what most people want but it's what they are now going get.



UK Bob

The companies have no say in where the money is put. In some cases it's the workers union. In my case I dumped the union I was in because of ridiculous strikes over a DKK an hour, which people will never win back. I have a direct wage/pension agreement with my employer.

The companies on the other hand do get tax because of paying pension to their employees.