Who is going to pay for your state pension/ care in old age?

[itsadlibitum]

Apparently birth rates are falling, and this is putting future pensions (and I would imagine general tax income) in jeopardy as the population will proportionally age.

What's the solution? Should we just write off our paid for "right" to a state pension and state support for care in older age?

Does this change your view on public investment in supporting people to have children if you otherwise thought this was a personal choice and you should support/ pay for your own children?

AIBU to think that NI contributions for "pension" is essentially government mandated mis-selling and state pension will go out the window in the next few decades?

Apparently birth rates are falling

Its definitely factual.

Presumably immigrants will have to fund mine otherwise we are pretty fucked.

Healthy life expectancy is overlooked as you pointed out & it’s stagnated for years so i’m not sure how everyone can work into their 70s.

The trouble with that argument is that most people in their fifties have parents who probably started working full time at age 14/16, so the quantity of years worked will be roughly the same (especially for men). I fannied about with education and ‘travelling’ until I was at least 24!

@Tutorpuzzle can you link to some data that proves the majority of adults in their 50s were working full time from 14/16?

It's just news headlines for now, but it doesn't take a genius (or a news paper to do the math). As the population ages proportionally it takes more and more working people to pay for those old (and often in poor health) people.

Anyway, some examples:

https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/pension-age-fertility-birth-rate-b2938915.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/04/01/plunging-birth-rates-mean-triple-lock-must-go/
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-0745/POST-PN-0745.pdf

Migration is great for mitigating this by the way, especially as migrants often go back to their country of origin to retire, so the country in question gets the tax paying labour but not the old person burden.

That would be entirely unacceptable. We pay NI and will need it all back, with interest,if we are not given state pension

But realistically the majority don’t pay anywhere near enough NI to fund years of a state pension.

What really gets me is that I’ve paid uninterrupted tax & NI for 45 years and reach pension age at 67. My cousin has been a SAHM (which I don’t begrudge one bit) all her life and just made contributions to NI to keep her “stamps” up to date and got her pension at 65

Yes absolutely. As it should be for those who want it. I would much prefer ds to inherit my money rather than it being used to fund care if I have no quality of life. Im not sure it will be available quickly enough for me to benefit so hope I have the courage to make my own arrangements.

Also pension schemes are far less generous today, fewer final salary & DB schemes.

Hilarious! You know that NI is just a tax like any other. That pensions are just a benefit like any other. The government can do what it likes. There’s no pot to repay you from.

After WASPI the government has pretty much conceded that any movement in state pension entitlement has to have at least 10 years lead time so if you are late 50s you’re fine. You’ll get a pension. It’s unlikely tp be means tested. The rest of us are likely to get something. Who knows what.

And those of you thinking that voters will have a say? What if the government has no more money whatsoever to give. Should we scrap say the NHS to give you a pension? Or get rid of the police or fire service? I don’t think you understand that the government isn’t looking at reducing pensions for fun. There are serious financial questions that need answering.

Public sector pensions need to be reduced first though. They are laughably over generous. At least my crappy DC pension (I’ve always paid in the max that my company will match, it’s still crap in comparison to a DB pension) means that I won’t get means tested!

If you want some state pension explainers the ifs has done some excellent recent podcasts on just this topic. Have a google.

I retired, curtesy of an NHS pension, at 60. I qualify for a state pension since I’ve paid extra NI. I still work one day a week so my gross income per annum means I pay a considerable chunk of tax still. But part of my pension planning does include my state pension and I’ll be miffed if this disappears after paying extra voluntarily.
I have been paying into a private pension, tax saving on my earnings and just in case my state pension disappears.
Like others I fully expected to retire fully at 60 but the changes made mean I have 5 more years to wait.

I enjoy working but after having breast cancer and ongoing treatment it is taking its toll physically. I want to continue for at least another couple of years but may well have to hang up my gloves and mask sooner.

My health conditions may well mean that I will not burden the system for long but would like a few more years to enjoy life a bit. It’s been on hold for a while, DH is currently waiting for a knee replacement which once done will allow us to travel. We haven’t had a holiday abroad since before the pandemic mainly because he wouldn’t make it from the carpark to the airport entrance at the moment.

Both DH and I have worked for over 40years apiece and have never claimed any benefits so it’s not a lot to ask that our years of contribution to the system returns some benefits.

@dinbin what @Tutorpuzzle said was "...most people in their fifties have parents who probably started working full time at age 14/16..."
which I think is a fair assumption for the working class. I'm 53, both of my parents both started working at 16.

I have been waiting all week for such a cheerful topic!

Public sector pensions need to be reduced first though.

They have reduced for newer entrants although granted generally better than other schemes

Absolutely, and this is one of the reasons I don't support assisted dying

I have no doubt at all that the poor / disabled / vulnerable would make up a disproportionate number of people supported / encouraged to go down that route, whilst wealthier people would fund their own care in care homes

@Howmanycatsistoomany

thank you, I missed that bit. Although hasn't the amount of mothers remaining in the workplace and working full time increased dramatically over the years?

Im a millennial and a job from 14, paid NI from 17, I defo wasn’t unusual.

No one wants to admit it but I think the plan is that the assisted dying bill will be part of the solution...

Assisted dying is expensive though, they can just leave you to waste away now tbf.

Our state pension is in our “bonus pot”. We’ve been putting away small amounts of money into a personal pension since we started working. More recently we’ve had jobs where companies pay in to it too. I’m actually surprised how much the small amount has added up. I will be starting a pension for my daughter when she turns 18 and paying a little in to it until she can afford to do it herself. It was my uni accounts lecturer who was also a financial adviser who pressed upon us how important it was to start a pension with as much as we could afford. He predicted the situation we are in with the state pension over 30 years ago.

Actually I read the other day that millennials are likely to end up as the wealthiest generation ever thanks to what they'll inherit from the boomers.

It won't be until they're in their 50s themselves but it will help with their retirements.

Maybe a means tested state pension will be a viable option then for those millennials that don't inherit anything.

I would imagine that advances in technology / AI might assist with some of that. Care work should definitely be better paid though. If there is a shortage of workers, I guess fees for care will go up and up and only those with significant funds available to them will be able to afford it. That may actually end up being those without children.

I am a little older than that but when I was at school about half the year group left at 15 then over half of the remaining left the following year at sixteen. Some left after a year of sixth form doing resits. Only about half a dozen went to university.

Come back when you’re 58. I’m bloody knackered!

I expect I will be working well into my seventies if I can and I assume the government will expect me to top myself as soon as that’s not possible.

Im GenX so weirdly comfortable with the nihilistic approach.

I worked in the Civil Service for 35 years and have a good pension. As a couple we saved hard into private pensions so we could retire at 60 . Sadly my husband died at 55 and along with both our pensions, savings and death in service benefit and life insurance I will not be relying on the state pension. With the cost of living I doubt that many young couples with children will be able to save as much we were able to

What about them?
You asked if we regret paying pensions for today's pensioners. The answer is no.
The fact that I may not receive the same in 25 years does not change the answer.
I don't think we should be having children simply for the sake of guaranteeing pensions. However, I do think that we should have universal free childcare available. It may or may not help with birth rates but even if it doesn't, it would mean more women would be working full time (if they so wish) and therefore will be in a less vulnerable position come passion age.
Not having children is also a viable choice to ensure more of your resources go towards security in retirement.
Yes, it does not solve the issue of declining workforce. Or does it? We have growing unemployment among the young as it is. So we are not exactly short.

Not so sure about that. Boomer inheritance is being used to pay for care homes nowadays. I expect to get very little from my parents despite them sitting on a fairly expensive property.

Inheritance after my parents/husband.
An only child.
Never worked. I have been quite lucky in this game.

The other issue is where will these jobs for old people come from? Who is going to hire me at 72 when they can get a young a sprightly 42 year old to do the same.