Author Archives: Andy P

Pensioners in Scotland get less pension – because they don’t live as long

Life expectancy in Scotland is currently lower than in the rest of the UK. On average between 2010-12, a 65 year-old male in the UK could be expected to live to around 83 years 5 months compared with 82 years 11 months in Scotland, and a 65 year-old female in the UK could expect to live to 85 years 11 months whereas in Scotland it was 84 years 6 months.

According to the Scottish government, this means that “a 65 year-old entitled to a total pension of £160 per week could expect the lifetime value of their state pension to be around £10,000 (men) or £11,000 (women) less in Scotland than in the UK as a whole”.

Pension difference from UK average

Pension difference from UK average

UK pensions among the worst in the developed world, study finds

British workers can expect among the worst pensions in the developed world, according to a report from investment bank UBS, which compared the retirement outlook for a 50-year-old woman in major cities across the globe.

Pensions compared

How much a state plus “mandatory” pension will be worth at retirement as a proportion of current income, based on a 50-year-old female in each city
Singapore 73%
Sydney 72%
Paris 69%
Milan 67%
New York 55%
Tokyo 55%
Munich 50%
Zurich 48%
Toronto 42%
London 41%
Hong Kong 41%
Taipei 32%

Read the full article.

Treasury saves £5 billion a year as pension reforms leave more than one million women worse off

The government must reconsider punishing changes to women’s pensions after it emerged earlier reforms boosted state coffers by more than £5 billion a year, campaigners say.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found more than one million women are worse-off by an average of £32 a week after the retirement age moved from 60 to 63.

The change, which happened between 2010 and 2016, has taken 1.1 million women off the pensions book, saving the UK Government £4.2bn on the state support and related benefits.

Read more at The National

Tory pensions bombshell

Angus Robertson asked PM May a simple question to guarantee the pensions triple lock. She failed to. Pensioners should fear Tory pensions bombshell.

Calling the election has delayed the Government’s plans to push back the state pension age and abandon the triple lock, due to be announced on 5 May. As things stand, May might sound an attractive proposition to middle-aged Brits, but her proposal to target pensioners’ benefits – or, as I prefer to call them, their rights – will drastically affect every voter under the age of 45 too.

Governments can review the pension age every five years, and the former Director of the CBI, John Cridland, recently published a report proposing that the age be raised to 68 from 2037, seven years earlier than planned. He wants to get rid of the “triple lock”, which protects the value of pensions against the rising cost of living, and make pensions relate to earnings instead – means-testing by another name.

One in five Scottish pensioners struggling to pay bills

ONE in five over-65s in Scotland is struggling to make ends meet – despite an estimated £292 million in Pension Credit and Housing Benefit going unclaimed each year.

The latest research for Age Scotland revealed that more than 200,000 Scottish pensioners are struggling financially, with 158,000 elderly people now living below the poverty line.

Now the charity is urging older people to get in touch to find out if they’re entitled to some extra financial support.

Scotland’s Old Age Pensioners – Driven to Poverty – Sacrificed on the Alter of Bankers Greed and an Uncaring Government

Frightening information for anyone wishing to stay in the Union!

British pensioners in Spain worry Brexit could force them to return to UK

Spain is home to more than 100,000 British pensioners. Most moved there many years ago to enjoy their retirement with the understanding that they would be able to export their pension and healthcare rights with them. But since the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, these rights are no longer guaranteed.

Of course if Scotland stays in the EU, Scottish pensioners in Spain and the rest of the EU would have their pension guaranteed.

At present, the maximum British state pension of around £480 a month is barely enough to cover living costs and is low by European standards – in comparison the Spanish state pension averages around €900 (£790) a month. An independent Scotland could easily do better.

Source: http://theconversation.com/british-pensioners-in-spain-worry-brexit-could-force-them-to-return-to-uk-74329

See also: What a ‘no deal’ Brexit would mean for healthcare of British pensioners in Spain

Where You Die Before Being Old Enough to Collect Your Pension?

From The National, 28 Feb 2017

THE state pension age may rise above life expectancy for men in more than 160 Scottish communities unless the system changes, MPs warn. n a new report, the Commons Work and Pensions Committee says claimants would have to be 70.5 years old by 2060 if the current rate of annual increases is sustained. This would exceed the average male life expectancy in more than 160 parts of Scotland and almost 30 in England.

Committee chairman Frank Field said the “triple lock“ which guarantees the state pension rises by average earnings, the consumer price index, or 2.5 per cent, whichever is the highest must be scrapped to avoid people working to death.

He said: With the triple lock in place, the only way state pension expenditure can be made sustainable is to keep raising the state pension age. This has the effect of excluding ever more people from the state pension altogether. He said those affected would be disproportionately from more deprived areas and manual occupations.

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