The future of the state pension | IFS Zooms In

With an ageing population, the UK faces a series of significant challenges with regard to its state pension. The OBR estimates that spending on the state pension, pension credit and winter fuel payment is expected to rise by 1.2% of national income (£32 billion per year in today’s terms) by 2050.
How does the state pension work? What are the problems with it? And how can we reform it to work more effectively?
In our final episode of the year, Paul is joined by Jonathan Cribb, Associate Director at IFS and Head of the Retirement, Savings, and Ageing sector, and Baroness Ros Altmann, a life peer, pensions expert and former Pensions Minister.
Find out more: ifs.org.uk/articles/future-st...

[@Frizzo2020]

Will be interested to hear what they have to say about the estimated 500,000 pensioners with private pensions pre 1997 that are not receiving the promised increases from companies such as Hewlett-Packard, AMEX, 3M and Foster Wheeler. Some pensioners pensions are now worth only 60% of their expected value. Scandalous. I hope that this will be included in future podcasts.

[@bigben8272]

Don't worry life expectancy amongst all age groups has now falling over the last 2 years. The number of excess deaths has exceeded the number of civilians that died in the WW2. No one is talking about it?

[@CupOfSweetTea]

What excess deaths are there? There were some from COVID, and that's over.

[@bigben8272]

@@CupOfSweetTea No excess deaths in 2020 but there have been excess deaths against the 5 year average for 2021, 2022 and 2023. Check it out for yourself.

[@stuartregan1627]

What about the serps Scandal. People told they were contracting out of serps & would be better off . How many people would of contracted out if they were told they would lose both serps & the state pension . ? Nobody .

[@risenshine2783]

Exactly, we had no choice as far as I knew, certainly we were told to take the local govt pension as it was, then as approaching retirement age, the rules changed!!! Shocking! State theft

[@johnstanton8499]

It would be fairer if for every year the pension age rises over 60 an hour is taken of the working week ,a 30 hour week would allow people to enjoy their lives?

[@frusciantesplectrum7980]

Because that compromises employer contracts. A company can employ the deficit hours needed. Wouldn’t work

[@NicholasActon-ej7fs]

It says your claim what claim we paid an agreed amount it is a social contract changing the dates was not part of that or any other changes

[@CJBradley]

Employers don't really help anymore and even though I was, it's not really enough. My private pension would be OK if I could cash it in for a lump sum but it's not allowed, I can only take 25% tax free and the rest I must take monthly which isn't great and I will have to live for at least another ten years to recover all of it. I don't know how much it would cost for a 20 year old each week working up 70 but it's probably waaay too much for anyone on a minimum wage and that means maybe half the workforce over the last 25 years who will have next to nothing to live on in retirement. Just like the NHS, without more money it can't survive in it's present form; hence the move to private health care also unaffordable for many. I think the government was at least slightly right when it stated that we would all have to get used to the Idea of higher costs of living and lower standards which is now self evident.

[@VincentRE79]

Can you not transfer your remaining pension pot to a private scheme and use drawdown?

[@staceygrove5976]

Paul Johnson sounds like Alan Partridge.

[@twig3288]

The UK spends £13 billion a year on overseas aid and £5.5 billion on hotels for illegal immigrants. That money could provide an extra £125 for the monthly pension.

[@SteveMoore1969]

At 4minutes you said "nearly everyone gets a pension" but I thought if you work part time then you get nothing! Or a stay at home wife gets only the first 11 years contribution out of 35. Doh and at 10minutes you mention this flaw that people don't understand until they're 70

[@clarenceishmael9615]

We live in a society which encourages state dependancy rather than saving and investing for the future. We can't continue to entrust our future economic well-being with the government who care not a damn about us.

[@CupOfSweetTea]

Except auto enrollment....

[@stuartregan1627]

​​@@CupOfSweetTea Auto Enrollment is just a trojan horse in order to steal your state pension. Its obvious , the people that work the most & pay most into their pension will be told they dont need a state pension. So you work alot & get no state pension or you live on benefits or save nothing you get a pension. What do you think people will choose ?

[@user-iu5ct7hk3o]

What about pension for the boat people?

[@antsly]

You mean the young people who will work and pay for pensioners state pension? Europe is ageing. That's why, despite the rhetoric, immigration is so high.

[@user-zw3bg9vr5g]

We worked from age 15 to age 66 and paid our National Insurance that we were told would pay for our State Pension. My question is this, why was that money not invested to pay for the State Pension?We were never paid enough to purchase a private pension. I do feel sorry for our young they have very little chance of putting money into a private pension. Just like we couldn’t afford it. I can’t understand why nobody in Government understands this? I don’t know any at the bottom who have huge pensions.

[@user-zw3bg9vr5g]

Immigration is to high because the Government did nothing to stop them. They paid a fortune to France to help stop this and that’s not working. Give them nothing like people born in Britain get’s. Spending £8million a day on housing Migrants is obscene, considering our veterans and homeless are ignored and forced to live on the street’s. Attacking Pensioners is unfair so is the vilification of the sick and disabled. Look at the state of our roads and infrastructures yet money can always be found for wars and other countries. We need to start taking care of Britain and the British people. This Government is the worst we have ever had to suffer under.

[@crispyduck1706]

@@user-zw3bg9vr5gcan you imagine if they invested your pension portion of NI in the stock market for fifty years - we would be happy bunnies

[@dessmith7658]

Governments will spend it on the military, buying guns and bombs And weapons that empower themselves Anything that flies into pieces is rubbish

[@risenshine2783]

At 23 mins you say that you think no one believes people in their early 60 s should get a pension, well how about Poland , just reduced the state pension age to 60 yrs, and Russia, its 60 yrs, in France it is 62 yrs and far more generous.

[@iLoveBeingDelusional4U]

They're right, pensions will get simpler over time, meaning you ain't getting one. The aim of future Governments will gradually reduce who quality over time. In 30-40 years time its your responsibility to make your own provisions for old age. The people who can't make such provisions will be assessed by a means test, meaning if you have property, own a vehicle, savings, investments or inheritance, you'll probably won't qualify or receive a much reduced rate.

[@stuartregan1627]

Yeah I agree . The Governments want to take as much money in taxes as possible & give you diddly back . Dont have a private pension. You will be screwed out of your state pension .

[@risenshine2783]

Its already around 45 years NI contributions for so many of us who had opted out pension schemes, something we werent informed about at the time, spent a lifetime paying into this only to be told as approaching retirement after 2016 that 35 years NI wasnt enough by a long way! Such theft

[@twig3288]

The State Pension was an entitlement prior to 2016 when the Tory government changed it to a “benefit”

[@shaz7132]

you could not find anyone better than a baroness to talk abut state pensione.... really. really.