45% of working age people not saving toward a pension at all

They will raise the age before they means test.

There would be utter uproar if those that list in the most tax for years receive nothing

Gen X is a considerably smaller population than the boomers.

If you can afford it start a pension for your kids, it has decades to grow.

Especially as LGPS now offers a 50% contribution scheme because people can't afford to make full contributions. I expect they won't be realising the impact it will be having on their future pension.

The incentive to have a job for 50 years?

self development
learning and passion
interest
using education and qualifications as intended
meeting people you can learn from
meeting people to expand your social circle
self respect and satisfaction
sense of purpose
earning a monthly income to buy a house/ car /go on holiday
earning monthly income to meet your monthly expenses

and on and on… can you really not imagine why People have jobs or careers?!

Economic inactivity (out of work and not looking for work) sits at 21% Vs the 21.6% of 2016.

The big shift is the youth unemployment (higher) and I presume that as the figures are broadly stable despite that, people retiring at a later age? The number of vacancies is much lower now, too.

I think this is what is ignored in the narrative. Even if every feckless wanderer took the first job available, there wouldn't be enough jobs for everyone to work. There would always be unemployment. Unless, of course, people worked less hours so the jobs could be split, but then people would moan that those people needed support because they weren't earning enough, when they could work full time.

er? No one makes a decision whether or not they work for 50 years based on their ability to draw down state pension

Lots of people can't afford to.

I'm a carer and whilst I do I work very part time and pay into my work pension it's not a lot. Luckily my state pension has been protected by the fact I get carers allowance.

I know some people think this but I can’t see it ever happening as people would just game the system and opt out of making their own provisions whether through occupational or private pensions. Why would anyone pay a significant chunk of their income into a pension if they’ll then lose out on the state pension- which they’re also in effect ‘paying into’ through NI contributions? I know NI doesnt go into a personal ‘pot’ but you know what I mean.) I suspect what will happen is that the state pension will just remain pretty basic and the eligibility age may rise a little, though frankly I can’t see it going much higher than the current 68 as life expectancy isn’t rising.

tbh anyone who doesn’t make provision in addition to the state pension is mad imo. And yes I know COL is impacting hugely but it really makes so much sense even to just pay a few % of income into a pension. I would absolutely not want to live on the state pension alone. It’s doable but it would be a pretty soulless existence .

It’s the middle earners in schemes where the employers are putting in minimum that are badly off, I’m one of them. We are exposed to stock market highs and lows and tax relief is limited to basic rate. Of course we are never going to save enough, even with auto enrolment.

Tax relief should be a 30% fixed rate for everyone, regardless of what rate they are on. That would help level up things.

Why are you ignoring the fact that many people who do work can't afford to save for a pension?

there are no plans to mean test state pension. There is no point trying to base a debate on something that is just an idea

Pensions is a ticking time bomb . People are either not saving or not saving enough so will expect to rely on pension credits . Except there won’t be a
enough people of working age to pay for it .

Ok.

But then those who do save just being means-tested out of the state pension… seems a bit unfair.

I've suspended my pension payments indefinitely because I can't afford to live so I need the extra £80 a month.

I’ve tried so hard to keep paying into my NHS pension but it’s unaffordable. I already have 15% deducted for student loans and my rent is 51% of my take home pay so the 9.8% pension deduction is just getting me further into debt so I’m going to have to opt out of it. If housing was reasonably affordable, I’d be able to save for retirement on top of paying into my pension. Imagine that!

We’re not all feckless losers wanting to scrounge off the state in our old age. Some of us worked out backsides off to improve our financial position only for the cost of living/housing crisis to happen and make us wonder why we bothered!

I don’t even think I have 10% left after paying everything including food and petrol

According to the National Office for Statistics, the percentage of working age people who are out of work is hovering at 4.9-5% this year. The percentage of working age people who were out of work in 2016 was 4.9-5.1%. So there's not a big change at all.

Does this change anything though? Is it a worsening trend?
Plenty of people have never had private pensions, they weren’t even available until relatively recently. None of my parents (early retirement age) , in laws or close family friends have private pensions, with the exception of ex teachers and police officers.

the triple lock is completely unsustainable though

The current workplace pension is insufficient. We need a bigger contribution from both employer and employee.

It's not always the case of not bothering to save. Some people can't afford to save.

You've Missed the point.

Theyre saying that means testing the state pension penalises those who have bothered to save.