To worry about how the heck my public sector pension is going to pay out when I'm old given that the UK almost certainly won't exist by then

No, but realistically any separation would be by agreement which would include how pension commitments would be dealt with.

If the UK and its successor governments blatantly reneged on such commitments their fiscal credibility would be shattered. Its currency would crash (who would buy government bonds knowing it had a propensity to casually disregard contracts), the economy would disintegrate, and it would become a failed state and descend into chaos.

You’re catastrophising about something that just won’t happen.

Bosnia isn’t in the EU. It’s just working towards it.

Utter incompetence but that’s been the SNP for years now.

OP I can understand your worries. Even before all this talk of breaking up the UK I did think that anyone relying on the UK state for anything might just not get it (or at least not fully).
I mean there is alot going on in the UK just now with low growth, big debt, high bond interest, huge welfare burden. So what happens if we do end up with an IMF bailout at some point. They will slash everything and quite right as we are living way beyond our means. First thing we have to do is stop borrowing. Then we have to start repaying it. So we either have to grow our economy greatly and thus taxes or slash everything to the bone.
Are they really going to let these huge public sector pensions stay intact when the country is bankrupt? I don't know.

I had a final salary scheme pension in a company that went bust and it got transferred to the pension protection fund. As I hadn't retired yet I am supposed to get 90% of it. However the numbers it is projecting to give me are quite frankly pathetic.

So I think your worry is justified. Not just if the UK were to split up but because of the dire state of it being a failing economy. Same goes for anyone relying on the state for money be that state pensions, welfare of any kind, or their job in the public sector. Definately not a sure thing anymore. On the plus side those of us with defined contribution schemes are at the mercy of the stock/bond markets and so not really any better off.

Exactly. The birthrate was far higher back then, and so was infant mortality. If every woman has ten kids, eight die in childbirth and two live to 100, the average life expectancy of those kids is 20. Therefore definitely no need for old age pensions then. But if every woman has two kids and they live to 100, there is an obvious need for an old age pension, even though the number of people getting old is exactly the same.

? There’s no way a newly independent nation will get any money off rUK when pensions are immediately paid out of tax collected. No way. What will happen on Indy is that the big book in which it is written who has paid how many years of NICs will be passed over, and zero cash whatsoever. There’s no principle that would suggest you do anything else.

And Scottish NHS pensions are separate from English NHS pensions, so NHS pensions would be paid from the Scottish government on Indy too. And you’ll be getting it in whatever currency they come up with. Which may or may not devalue rapidly when the short sellers have some fun with it.

I'm guessing that if there is a united Ireland then there will be many detailed negotiations and amongst then will be reciprocal arrangements for pensions.

Ironically the SNP post Salmond have been a disaster for Scotland. Salmond was definitely a bit slimey but he was deliberately smeared and nobody held accountable even though people were proved to have blatantly lied. Salmond was smart and savvy and had the ability to compromise and negotiate.

Sturgeon turned the SNP into a wokist nightmare obsessed with trans ideology. Nobody really cares about it but they care about the economy and well run services including our once world renowned universities.

Your goldplated public section pension will manage just fine.

But then again us in Scotland get the regular entertainment of guessing which SNP MSP is the thickest. This weeks candidate, Collette Stephenson who despite being on the transport committee for 2 years asked in a meeting whether Transport Scotland was a registered charity. It’s the government department you’ve been overseeing for 2 years you total imbecile!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmp302wew991o

You pity the civil servants having to deal with people THIS DENSE.

The thing is I think a well run Scotland could have been creating an excess each year rather than a deficit. If they hadn’t undersold the green energy licences, if they stuck to the same benefits regime as England, if they didn’t have free tuition (which is absolutely KILLING Scottish unis, a major export of ours). The Scottish government have no understanding of how to run a country successfully. It’s just all about covering up dodgy dealings (Alex Salmond case) bribing voters with wild benefits, and trans. Always trans. What is it with the trans??? Will we ever find out?

So you'd quite like an independent Scotland but also for your pension to still be paid/topped up by England for the duration of your retirement? Why can't the great and mighty Scotland pay you from whatever the settlement/breakaway amount is? (For want of a better phrase)

If Scotland becomes independent it'll have to start paying it's own bills in full for a change.

Exactly, it’s the biggest obstacle because the instability would be painful for a generation. If we had a decent leadership they should already have an Indy fund set up and ring fenced earning interest. This may help buffer some of the hardship that would inevitably come.

Instead the SNP have literally stolen people’s hard earned donations and nobody is being held accountable. It’s a tragedy of epic proportions and highlights that Scotland has much work to do still to win the argument for independence.

Whisky, bagpipes, Bonnie scenery and all the sentimental romantic stuff that makes Scotland a phenomenal country ain’t gonna cut it. It needs a serious game plan with economics at the centre.

Life expectancy in 1908 was 45 for men and 49 for women. Pensions weren’t needed because people didn’t live long enough to need one.

This doesn't mean what you seem to think it does. Average life expectancy in 1900 was skewed by the number of children, particulary poor children, who died in infancy. It does not mean that most people died in their 40s.

You only have to walk around a Victorian graveyard to see plenty of people actually lived to be old, quite a lot are over 80. If you survived childhood or something like cholera then you were reasonably likely to live to be old enough to need assistance when you could no longer work.

She isn’t a UK citizen, lives outside the UK and earned the right to the UK pension she has from working in the UK. If N Ireland splits from the UK, the responsibility for paying the pension of the Northern Ireland pensioners goes with it. Your mother would still have the right to a UK pension, but someone who earned their contribution while living in N Ireland wouldn’t.

And there is no contract that says anyone will receive a penny. State pensions are a benefit and could disappear at the flick of a switch if the country governing them wanted to. They’re not obliged to pay a penny. If you’ve paid contributions you are entitled to a proportion of a pension, but a proportion of £0 is £0.

That does make sense though. But not currently how it works for my mother.

None of the signs point to an Irish border poll this parliament as there is zero evidence that a majority would vote in favour. One of the major failings of those who advocate for a united Ireland outside the UK is that they have no idea how the division of public sector liabilities would go. It's like the shit show without a plan that Brexit was but on steroids.

State pensions. Every month all countries in the UK pull NIC contributions in from their taxpayers, then pay them out to their pensioners. In and out, in and out. Let’s be clear, if England is pulling in NICs from their contributors every month, it SURE AS HECK isn’t going to pay pensions to England and Scotland and N Ireland and Wales! The new governments pull in their own NICs (or equivalent) from their own taxpayers and pay out to their own pensioners.

This isn’t even a point of debate.

I totally agree. Give Indy Scotland 20 years and it could get back to the position it’s in now financially, then forge on and do better than the UK. But living standards would plummet in the 20 years inbeteeen as Scotland wrestles with vast loan repayments at sky high interest rates because who on earth would lend to someone who has maxed out their credit cards and goes well into their overdraft every month?

If the Yes tribe laid all cards on the table I’d be happy for an Indy ref, but it’ll be the Brexit bus equivalent again, with Indy reckoned to be 8 times as damaging as Brexit.

I don't think Mumsnet staff are allowed to sleep whilst working.

My mum moved home to southern Ireland having worked all her life in the UK. She currently receives a UK pension and is topped up by the Irish government to match the Irish pension.

I assume it would work the same for pensioners in NI if they unify. Not sure about Scotland though.

As you say it could all change with a Reform gov.

The biggest issue with Scottish independence is the uncertainty, economic instability and general chaos it would likely cause for at least a decade. Lots of unknowns and negotiations would play out in a shit show as usual. Leadership in Scotland is absolutely dire as it is in WM.

But if you look on a longer term basis, there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about Scottish independence. It’s looking more and more likely with each subsequent generation hence why WM won’t entertain the idea. Scotland is basically trapped in a so called union of equals with no right to decide its future. Utter insanity and this only strengthens the resolve for independence.

However, what pro independence supporters don’t really acknowledge is the unknowns and economic shock which could take decades to recover from. But there is absolutely no question that Scotland could and would be a strong independent country, it just may involve a lot of pain for a long time to get there.

Your contributions paid into the scheme. That doesn't mean you have a special pot of money just for you. Read the terms and conditions of your pensions people!

If Scotland did have true independence then there would be no more Barnett formula , last annual payment was 45 billion from the UK treasury. Wales and NI get approx half that. It’s just a point amongst lots of others made by people who know more than I do on this thread.

Huh? Pension contributions were taken from my Civil Service salary every month, just like income tax.
Now I’m retired, I receive my small pension, as that was rather the point. (Just a weeny amount monthly, as I only worked a few years. A twenty+ year career would mean a decent amount, no doubt)