Press Release
Making Sure There's Secrurity In Retirement
Local MP Tom Clarke speaks out in favour of the Governments new pension plans, which he claims has been long overdue and address the unfairness and inequalities of the present arrangements.
The MP said:
“Thankfully many more pensioners are living longer, enjoying satisfying and healthier lives. However Britain is getting older and with every year that passes, more and more people retire. When the pensions system was originally introduced there were ten workers for every pensioner. Now there are four workers for every one pensioner, and by 2050 there will be 2 people in work for every one in retirement. That’s the Pensions landscape and our current pensions system will struggle to cope if we don’t address this problem now and begin to make changes”.
Mr. Clarke outlined the challenges to tackling the problem:
“To do nothing would mean that in future decades our current pensions system would be ruinously expensive - it’s just not fair to pass on the cost of our retirement to our children and grandchildren. Last week the Government announced a bold and lasting settlement to the pensions challenge. There are four main challenges:
- Increasing life expectancy, which will mean a 50 per cent increase in the number of pensioners by 2050.
- Under-saving, because there are up to 12 million people not saving enough for their retirement;
- Complexity, which discourages people to save because they don’t know the best way to save;
- And the unfairness, which sees many people – particularly women – unable to retire with a decent pension because of the way the system is structured.
The MP added:
“It would be a complete dereliction of duty from any Government to ignore this problem. It would also be short sighted – in twenty or thirty years we would have a crisis. So the pensions system needs reformed now. Many people today have an occupational pension. The Government has proposed a new settlement for those who do not with a new savings scheme into which all workers will be automatically enrolled. People will be able to opt out, but if they stay employers will make matching contributions. This proposal extends that to many millions more.
But we need to make sure that people will have confidence their saving will be worthwhile, so as well as making it easier to save and plan for a higher, fairer state pension re-linked to earnings. This will give people a firm, simple-to-understand, foundation on which to build, and enable them to have confidence that their personal saving will be worthwhile.
On tackling pensioner poverty he said:
“We need to continue the progress we have made in tackling pensioner poverty. At the heart of these new changes will be the opportunity for the least well off to share in the growing wealth of society by increasing the guarantee credit in line with earningsin the years ahead”.
He also dealt with the increase in retirement age when he said, “Under these plans pensioners will be better off. This new settlement is sustainable over coming decades by gradually raising the state retirement age in line with life expectancy, from 65 to 66 in 2024, then a further year each decade until it reaches 68 by 2046. Of course, no-one wants to work longer – and we will keep the rises under review in the years ahead - but we do need to make these changes to make sure the new system remains affordable in the years ahead”.
On the question of how women have been treated in the past he said, “One issue which I am passionate about is the fact that our current pensions system is unfair to women. Women do a whole manner of tasks that are often unnoticed unrecognised and unrewarded come their own retirement. Women who care for loved ones, or who bring up children will be more likely to get the basic state pension and state second pension if it rewards social contributions equally with cash contributions”.
So the government will introduce weekly credits for mothers and carers that will count towards pension entitlements in the same way as national insurance contributions andreduce the number of qualifying years you need to receive a full state pensionto 30. This will mean more women get decent pension and will make the pension system simpler and fairer”.
The MP concluded:
“With Pensions reform it is almost impossible to please everyone. I believe a fairer state pension, linked with earnings, and a system of saving that will help millions more workers retire comfortably is a strong, reasonable and fair way of securing Britain’s Pensions. And I hope that the vast bulk of constituents support these changes and share my views on this vitally important subject which has for far too long been overlooked.”