pensionsandsavings.com

  • PENSIONSANDSAVINGS.COM

    From Ros Altmann:economist and pensions,
    investment and retirement policy expert

    • pensionsandsavings.com

    pensionsandsavings.com

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    Category: Social Justice

    Social care funding reform cannot be achieved equitably or sustainably with a National Insurance rise

    Social care funding reform cannot be achieved equitably or sustainably with a National Insurance rise

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    Social care funding reform cannot be achieved equitably or sustainably with a National Insurance rise – and even worse if the extra money just goes to the NHS. Increasing National Insurance is socially inequitable for funding desperately needed social care improvements which were supposedly finalised in 2019, pre-pandemic. The lowest earners pay National Insurance of 12.8% on £3,000 more of their income than other taxpayers. NI starts around £180 a week, but tax only starts around £240 a week. Pensioners, pensions,…

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    A chance to end pensioner poverty this Bank Holiday

    A chance to end pensioner poverty this Bank Holiday

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    This Bank Holiday weekend, if you’re visiting elderly relatives or neighbours, could be a golden opportunity to stop pensioner poverty. Furlough payments supported workers with their living costs during lockdown, but over one million isolated pensioners have not had money they’re entitled to.  £1.8billion Pension Credit is going unclaimed by UK pensioners – this money is rightfully theirs, so do tell them about it or help them apply. Up to £9,000 a year Pension Credit for single pensioners PLUS perhaps…

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    Public Accounts Committee is right to call for urgent action to ensure social care does not fail the most vulnerable

    Public Accounts Committee is right to call for urgent action to ensure social care does not fail the most vulnerable

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    PAC calls for urgent short-term action on social care to ensure equality with NHS.  Government response was ‘slow, inconsistent and at times negligent’, as NHS was not co-ordinated with social care.  Current system failed those who needed it most and lessons must be learned before any second wave hits. Committee demands improved social care funding, clear responsibilities and accountability. Social Care in the UK is not fit for 21st Century and urgent radical reform must be introduced. The Commons Public…

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    Helping low earners’ pensions – Glad to see Government’s Call for Evidence

    Helping low earners’ pensions – Glad to see Government’s Call for Evidence

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    Government calls for evidence on addressing scandal of lowest earners paying 25% extra for their pensions.  Over one million low-paid women are unknowingly auto-enrolled into employer schemes which leave them with lower take-home pay. Who is looking after these lowest earners who surely need every penny of their pay and their pensions and cannot protect themselves against the income loss.  Short-term fixes could include requiring employers to use suitable schemes for low earners or for schemes and employers to ensure…

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    Is time up for the triple lock?

    Is time up for the triple lock?

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    It’s really important to protect pensioners – but is triple lock the best means of doing so?    Triple lock does not protect the poorest and oldest pensioners.  Moving to a double lock to increase State Pensions, including Pension Credit,  by best of earnings or price inflation would offer better protection.  The Triple Lock on State Pensions was introduced in 2011 to protect pensioner incomes. Over many years, the Basic State Pension had fallen significantly behind general increases in income…

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    Delighted to see Government rejects age discrimination against over-70s

    Delighted to see Government rejects age discrimination against over-70s

    Comments 3 comments

    Government rejects discrimination in its lockdown policy – quite right too! Isolated, healthy over-70s delighted to be spared harsher treatment just because of their age.  ONS death rates and medical evidence do not suggest all over-70s at greater risk from Covid-19. Older people delighted to see Government rejecting discrimination: The Government’s measures to ease lockdown restrictions do not, as many had feared, include ageist bias. Having worked so hard to overcome age discrimination throughout society and the workplace, Ministers have…

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    Collective punishment of older people is unacceptable

    Collective punishment of older people is unacceptable

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    Old people must not be confined just because some are vulnerable.   Surely collective punishment of all those over a specific age is unacceptable in our democracy. It is not acceptable just to blame the virus for ‘targeting’ some age groups. I urge Government to consider the social and political consequences of such authoritarian policies. Clinical advice must not be used to promote age discrimination: I have real fears that Ministers are considering blanket bans to prevent older people leaving…

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    High Court ruling on women’s state pension age

    High Court ruling on women’s state pension age

    Comments 91 comments

    1950s women disappointed as High Court says Government did not discriminate against them.   Equalising pension AGE does not mean pension equality – women still get much lower pensions than men.  Many women have been pushed into poverty and did not know about the changes. Government should help those in hardship – perhaps allowing early access to State Pension or Pension Credit for those hardest hit.  In a landmark ruling today, the High Court has dismissed the claim brought on…

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    Increasing State Pension Age to 75 would be an outrage

    Increasing State Pension Age to 75 would be an outrage

    Comments 141 comments

    Increasing State Pension Age to 70 and then 75 would be wrong. Strict chronological age cut-off ignores the 19-year gap in healthy life expectancy across UK.  Saving public money is all well and good, but not by penalising the poorest and most vulnerable. Working longer can be good for health and wealth but it should be a choice, not forced labour. More flexibility is needed for earlier pensions for people in poor health and unpaid carers. UK already has the…

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    Justice system hit by forced retirement – reduced immigration in an aging population demands new thinking

    Justice system hit by forced retirement – reduced immigration in an aging population demands new thinking

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    Justice system in peril as forced retirement at age 70 causing shortage of magistrates. Compulsory retirement in an ageing population is wasting home-grown skills and talent! Recruitment crisis requires new thinking on age discrimination, especially as immigration falls. Mandatory retirement ages are blunt tool and should be replaced by impartial appraisal. Crisis in justice system as number of magistrates has halved: Magistrates are calling for the Government to abandon its policy of forcing them to retire at age 70, introduced…

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