State pension

[blondeboobshell]

There’s concerns the state pension won’t be an option in years to come or will be means tested. Iyo what age group need to start not counting on getting the state pension, people in there 50’s? 40’s? 30’s? Or younger?

Prob 40s. The state pension will be come like many other benefits, those who work will fund it, never receive it, and tough luck if they don’t have enough for themselves in private pension!

They would need to give people long enough to make provision. There would be a formula looked at that would work out figures so people could make provision, the chances of them getting the formula right would be slim.

Partner and I are 30's/ 40's and not counting on getting it tbh. If we do it will be a bonus.

I think it’s wrong to take another thing away from the young. If they are going to means test do it now.

They can't just pull it out from under people's feet when there are those who will be solely dependent on it. I'm one of those (coming up towards 50 now with only 6 years left to complete my 35 years).

There is no country in the world that has pulled their state pension; I seriously doubt the UK will be the first. Maybe they will phase it out, but they'd have to start with the youngest generations coming into adulthood, and then make provisions so the proverbial doesn't hit the fan when they come of age.

This. The UK is not going to be the first country in the world to eliminate a universal state pension. It’s only on Mumsnet that I ever see this suggested!

Because they all have £5m pension pots apparently

Im 41 and assuming they'll means test it so i wont get it.

it really worries me though, the whole point was it would top up my rubbish DC pension so I'd be comfortably off and instead I'll wind up hard up, and having worked my arse off for the same as all the people who never worked & get pension credit. Im saving as much as i can but you need a hell of a lot in a DC scheme to buy even 15k annuity. Like 400k.

Political suicide to pull it. Plus its a self funding scheme. Money paid in now via national insurance contributions pay for it.

They may change the funding model but will never ever drop it. The damage to the uks image as a top economy would be too great

The government has been telling us for years to have a private pension, and auto enrolment started in 2012.

I don't think the state pension will ever be abolished but it's clear that the country can't afford it and it is likely to become means tested at some point.

I'm mid 40s and have felt since my early 30s I shouldn't rely on it.

I hope they won’t drop it but national insurance contributions aren’t covering 13k a year for each person for up 3 decades.

i’m 47. I have a private pension for the last 21 years it’s not going to be as much as the state pension according to the forecast… i’m not highly paid. I’m still paying into a different one. I’ll be working much later than i would like. In the real world most people don’t earn the mumsnet salaries.

I’ve worked for 30 years i can’t see how it could be taken away from my age group after all that time. Many Current workplace schemes don’t pay enough for people to actually live and in the current climate where everything is rising constantly how do people save especially those in lower wages?

It would end up being paid as benefits anyway to those who had no money to save for a pension which is never going to be enough to live on.

Also has a country ever actually pulled it? Most place have support for their elderly.

I get mine at 68… i very much doubt i’ll be living three decades. My family aren’t very elderly historically

This is how I viewed it . I’m 61 now and always made provision on the basis it won’t be there .

No it wasn't a brilliantly thought out scheme. However, to drop it simply can't happen

Keeping in mind they've tried with
SERPs, ie pay more get a bit more.
Then Opting Out, but realised that the private pensions weren't doing enough to cover people.

And we are now at a flat rate pension I don't think it will go anytime soon.

Remember older people are more likely to vote. And people seem not to mind pulling the ladder up behind them. Look at the folk that got free uni, who voted for uni fees.

So even if they do vote to remove it, it will be people in their 20s or early 30s at the time of the vote who'll be affected

Why do so many struggle to get their head around this?

Other countries means test though or base what you get vs what you paid in.

There is no way that any Government will eradicate the State Pension. They would make themselves completely unelectable going forward.

And we have an ageing population so people aren’t going to vote for long term improvements, we will just be circling the drain.

They certainly need to pause the triple lock

The evidence suggests that the path of least resistance is to just keep raising taxes for year after year, so I imagine that will continue.

I don't think they will get rid of it for anyone but the triple lock will probably disappear in the next 5 years, the age will move higher and people will be encouraged to put more in private/workplace pensions so they have some to bridge the gap between maybe moving to more part time in their 60s and getting state pension around 70.

But an IMF bailout will also make them unelectable.

I’m 40s ish. I don’t believe that the government will get rid of a universal pension, but I believe this will be insufficient and will be ‘topped up’ by a suite of means-tested benefits (either in terms of income or other features like housing or paying bills etc).

The mandatory contributions of public schemes are far higher in other countries (eg Scandi is around 15-18%, France 25%). In Australia it seems to be understood that the focus has shifted to individual pension pots which mandate 12-15%. In the UK the mandatory is far lower and the actual model and who pays for it is not really clear or understood IMO.