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Pensions Crisis: Your Experiences
October 8, 2004
Here different opinions about pensions crisis:
Can anyone explain to me why, when all other pension schemes are under pressure, the generous, indexed-linked pension enjoyed by public workers is unaffected? A significant proportion of the increase to my council tax is to cover the shortfall in pension requirements needed to keep council workers protected from financial realities that the majority of us in the private sector have to endure. It's a double-whammy - I have less in my pocket because my pension is smaller than predicted but I have to pay more to support those in a privileged position.
Roger Jubin, Hondean, Hampshire
I 'saved' into a company pension scheme for 25 years but on being made redundant in 1992 my pension was frozen in relation to my earnings then, so it is not worth a whole bunch. I have since paid into private funds, struggling to do so, and am now redundant again with little in the way of job prospects. It angers me when the Government says we should have started to save earlier and we should work longer. I started 'saving' when I was 21 and I'd like to save now - but what with - oh yes save it out of the income from my company pension.
Graham, UK
Successive governments have used the unemployment figure as key political propaganda tool, but what is more relevant is the wealth of those employed. The average wage is often quoted (about £24,000 at present), a figure, which is often distorted by the perverted pay of senior executives and civil servants etc! There are many people who earn far less than this and it is this base from which tax is really taken. As a consequence, pensions will become more of a taxable commodity in the future.
Ron Cartmale, Stoke, UK
Best thing for all is for politicians to be made to live on the State pension when they retire, if this was all our MPs had to look forward to for their own retirement then I am sure that the State pension would rise at least 5 fold overnight.
Dave, Aberdeen
I don't have holidays, I don't have an extravagant lifestyle and I cannot afford to SAVE much due to the persistently rising taxes sapping my monthly pay packet. I am 30 now. I fully expect to have to work until 70 and then doubt I will have much to show for it. The pensions system is falling apart now, God knows what it will be like in 40 years time. What a depressing thought for the future.
Val K, Milton Keynes
The pensions crisis and house prices are inextricably linked. Labour have raped the pension funds, so people now buy a second home as an investment for their retirement. Seven years ago Britain was the best provided for nation in the Western world, now we are in crisis. Gordon Brown, great Chancellor - don't think so.
Steve, Nottingham, UK
The means test costs far more in administration than it saves. It should be abolished and the admin costs saved should be used to provide higher pensions for all.
Bernard Maddox, Stevenage, Herts
We need to make provisions for ourselves rather than expect to be financially dependant on the state. People who fail to do this will have nobody else to blame but themselves.
James D, Birmingham, UK
I have worked all my life and paid national insurance contributions. I paid into a pension and Equitable Life took a huge chunk away from me, and Gordon Brown taxes me. When I get to buy an annuity I will get a pittance. I have an under performing endowment mortgage and am trying to pay off the shortfall. I have done my part, the government have let me down badly. The government are in crisis over pensions, but never mind - Tally ho!
Norma, Birmingham, UK
I can't believe some people think that their NI payments are being invested for their future pension. They are going to the people who currently draw a pension. The problem is that when we are due to retire there will not be enough people paying NI to fund our retirement. The only solutions are either an ever increasing population, for us all to die younger or for our children to live with the fact that they'll have a bigger NI bill than us. Everything else is pie in the sky.
Joseph Wilkinson, Whitehaven, UK
Interesting that politicians are complaining that people don't save enough for their old age, as it is we non politicians who pay for their expensive salaries, pensions and lifestyle. Maybe if they paid into a fund what us mere mortals can afford after basic living expenses, they would see what the rest of us see, but I suspect that they are too busy looking for the next station for their gravy train.
Alan, Rochdale, Lancashire
I am no longer prepared to vote for any political party that does not give me the same pension that MPs enjoy. Let's treat all these hypocritical parasites with the contempt they deserve.
Steve Sayers, Northampton
I am 52 and have regularly paid into pension plans throughout my working life, carefully reading advice on who, what, etc. My father is 85 and is currently drawing pensions that will far exceed the forecasts I am seeing for my pensions, despite my paying many, many thousands more into my pensions than he did. Why should I bother anymore?
Brent, Oxford, UK
What about those people who did take responsibility for their old age, saved through their company and through no fault of their own, now face ruin?
Simon, London
You feel robbed when you save for many years and end up with less than you put in. People do not have any confidence in private saving schemes (pensions, ISAs, endowments, with-profits etc).
Richard Hudson, Ipswich, UK
I saved for my retirement. When I hit 65 my savings pot was about half the amount I put in. I would have been better off sticking it under the mattress. But because the amount I have left is still over the limit (not much over)laid down by the government, I get no pension credit or help with council tax. Come on Mr Brown, give us a chance.
Brian, UK
For most of our lives both my husband and I have worked in the theatre, mostly on short term contracts. Wages in the field are low, long term employment is almost impossible to find. We have managed to live, and avoid credit, but now, close to retirement age, have very little pension entitlement. Given the high and constantly rising cost of living in the UK, our only option is to emigrate. We have chosen Thailand and our plans are well advanced. Cost of living and quality of life is the crux of the matter, plus the fact that older citizens are respected in the East, not discarded as they are here.
Eileen Markham, London, UK
The pension situation worries me very much. I work full-time, my wife looks after our child (soon to be two children.) I work full-time after being taxed at source and paying household monthly bills (including all the various added taxes) we have nothing left at all for savings or pensions. We don't smoke, hardly drink and don't take holidays. Anybody got any ideas?
Ryan Merchant, Paignton, Devon
The company I work for had a final salary scheme which they closed to new workers before I joined. Now I am paying 15% of my salary (including voluntary contributions) for a projected pension which is less than half what I would have got on the final salary scheme if I only paid 4%. I am not sure that I will even be able to keep up the 15% when my kids go to university. It is not just a crisis for those who don't bother to save, many people cannot afford to.
Chris Q, Bradford, England
Is it any surprise that we have a pensions crisis? For a start, the government should stop the taxation of pension funds. Secondly, financial service companies need to offer products that actually offer value for money. And thirdly why would anyone pay into a policy that builds up to become possibly your biggest asset but which is not accessible to you? If you die one day after you retire, tough. Your beneficiaries won't see a single penny of your hard earned cash.
Ian, UK
Saving is fine except that the government taxes the interest on the already taxed money that you save. No wonder so many people decide to blow what they have and let the country pick up the tab when they run out of cash!
Ruth, Telford UK
My husband and I have decided that the best way forward is to spend all our money and fall just below the threshold for benefits by retirement age/need for care homes etc, because if we are just over we will get no help at all.
AH, Manchester UK
All these people calling for the government to make saving for pensions compulsory are missing the point. It already is compulsory and is called national insurance!
Andrew, London, UK
We don't need to work longer. We need to put a percent or two on to National Insurance to pay for an increased basic State Pension and an improved State Earnings Related Pension. Then, all those companies who took pension contribution holidays when the stock market was riding high, and pensions were looking good, should be made to make up this shortfall.
Peter Judge, Brighouse, Yorks, UK
There must be a legal challenge here for Pensioners to have the State Pension increased considerably to at least match inflation, as that is what we have paid for and the money will have to come from other areas of the budget, especially immigration.
Patricia Humphrey, Maidenhead, UK
We have a national shortage of affordable housing. At the same time we have thousands of single pensioners occupying large family homes. If rising council tax and inadequate pensions force some people to sell up and move to somewhere smaller then everyone benefits.
Andrew Smith, Epsom, UK
There would not be a problem getting people to save if they could be sure that in 20-30 years time they would get their money back.
Ed Smith, Nottingham UK
To claim the country can no longer afford decent pensions is an insult to our intelligence. We could afford them fine after we'd fought two world wars, and the economy is many times richer now. It's a question of political will.
Ben Drake, York, UK
The first thing that we need to do to correct the current pensions crisis is to force politicians and senior civil servants to have the same pension options as the rest of us. It is easy enough for them to tax our pensions when they have gold-plated super-pensions to rely on.
Richard Read, London, UK
I am 25, and started a pension a couple of years ago. However, I am now looking at other options for financing me in my latter years, as I find it extremely unlikely that I'll get anything from the state despite having paid NI for years, and not particularly likely that I'll get much growth on my own pension.
Paul Sealey, Cannock, England
Ha!Ha! pensions. Pensions. I had to give up working and look after my Mother who had Alzheimer's, consequently I have been left with a reduced pension £51.00 per week to live on. I have been told I cannot get anything else, because I have a husband that works. If I have sent my Mother off to a Council run care home, the state would have had to keep her, and I would have been able to work. I almost certainly carried on working, but even if I choose to retire I would have been on £79.00 per week. Gee Simpson London
Gee Simpson, London
I don't know why everyone is blaming Gordon Brown for the pension's crisis. His excellent management of the economy after the disaster of the Tories has kept many British companies healthy, which is allowing them to pay pensions to their employees. I think that £5bn a year is a small price to pay for peace of mind.
Andrew, London
Thinking that paying NI contributions is 'saving' for retirement is a fallacy. All that NI Contributions do is pay monies to the current pensioners and gives an entitlement to the payee to receive whatever the Government declares it will pay when the payee's time comes. And the Government will decide when that will be! Already women born later than 1954 now have to wait until they are 65 to receive anything (used to be 60).
Ed, UK
Is it really surprising that people aren't providing for themselves, given the increasing swathe of means-tested benefits on offer? If you're earning a modest wage you can either spend it now and have fun, or save it only to find that if you'd spent it you'd be no worse off thanks to benefits. Naturally those that look after themselves don't get the benefits, and the government wonders why people aren't saving.
Jonny, England
The so-called pensions crisis has existed since pensions began. This well-known by the Opposition, who are trying to make cheap political capital by blaming New Labour.
Andrew M, Walsall, UK
People in your twenties, thirties and forties start to save like hell! It is the only way to be sure you'll have at least some money!
M Hall, Worksop, UK
My Dad worked all his life, railways and a large company, not one day unemployed. Retired 5 years early on voluntary redundancy. He has never, ever, been so well off. Tiny £25 a week company pension along with £94 state pension plus £9 new pensions credit plus most of his rent and rates paid. £200 fuel allowance. For the first time in his life he has absolutely no money worries. He's now 77. The state pension is easily enough to live well on that is unless you have lived the high spending life and got used to it, then you're stuffed and have to get used to less, but that is not poverty that's just reality.
Robby, London England
Worried is the wrong word, petrified, is more like it, as it is going to be a social disaster in years to come.
J.Evans, Brighton UK
Of course there is a crisis. It's all to do with total lack of confidence in our collapsing financial system, compounded by dishonesty in the City, and geo-political chaos.
Patrick Mearns, Emsworth. UK
The "unclaimed funds" held in banks and building societies should not be used to prop up UK pension schemes that have not been administered properly and/or effectively regulated, as this would only benefit a small proportion of the UK population.
Ralph, Chelsea, London
Maybe the government need to follow the lead of the Australian government. Superannuation contributions are mandatory for all wage earners- even those in temp roles. You can chose your fund, but you have to contribute. Lower earners are encouraged to contribute as much as is affordable and the government matches it. In UK when I started work (18 years ago) we were led to believe government pensions were a right through NI contributions. Time to change the mindset of workers.
Christine, Australia (ex UK)
The first thing people have to do is to start taking responsibility for their own pensions rather than expect a nanny state to fund their retirement. Instead of spending their money on cigarettes, alcohol, holidays, Sky TV, DVD players and PlayStations they should make provision for their old age.
Trevor, Cambs, UK
Why bother, under this government you are better off spending everything having fun and then get the state to look after you, they do not help the prudent.
David, London
Firstly, Ann of England, that is what the national insurance is for, to contribute towards the pension. Secondly, as a single person on just over the minimum wage with a mortgage, I pay so much just to live and the rest goes in taxes to support married couples in a lifestyle I can't myself afford. I don't have anything left to save. Perhaps if my council tax bill wasn't fifty percent higher than each person of a couple, and I didn't have to give them money to raise their children then I could possibly afford to save for my own old age. But having already had two heart attacks and cancer I probably won't live that long anyway.
Dave, Ramsgate, England
Everybody should be worried about their pension as it is obvious to most of us we are not saving enough as a nation. Two steps (which I doubt those in power will actually do) are firstly reverse Gordon Browns tax on pensions and secondly make saving for pensions compulsory.
Clive, Woking
Our money, money paid in National Insurance, money which should be there for us when we retire, is frittered away on people who have never paid into the system and probably never will.
Andy Moore, Wednesbury, England
Having spent 2 years in a job where I had to informing retiring pension policy holders exactly how much they would get from their hard earned savings, I learnt that pension policies are a waste of money, I've always taken ones paid for by my employers but I won't put my own money into one. I'm planning to have a business to keep me going in old age, maybe selling pensions...!
Jennifer, Netherlands, ex UK
With the rising costs of my mortgage and keeping my family and other various basic living essentials, I just about break even on my salary even though I have resisted using credit. The problem here is that I can't afford to take part in my employers pension scheme. There are many like me storing up a big problem for the future.
Andrew, UK
It seems that the only people with a good (final salary) pension provision work in the public sector. This is paid for by workers with inferior provisions in the private sector and is clearly not fair.
Steve W, Cambs, UK
If people don't take responsibility for themselves and save for their future (be it private pensions, savings accounts, etc.) then they only have themselves to blame when they're poor in old age and find themselves having to work past 65 - although what an OAP can contribute to the workplace I fail to see.
RB, Suffolk
I am not bothered about this because I know that I have to look out for myself. We cannot rely on the state / politicians for anything, particularly to look out for us in old age. We are on our own. Accept that & do something for yourself, no one else will .
Roger Morgan Freedlan, Whitwick England
By the Government failing to regulate Pensions adequately, it is no surprise that many people do not bother with them. It is only after I had been paying into my Company scheme for 20 years that I realised the terms can be changed at any time, and if my Employer decides to 'outsource' me, my Pension has no protection under TUPE. The only thing that is attractive are the tax breaks, but they can be swallowed up by 'Charges' and the incompetence of the Investment Managers.
Mark, Glasgow, UK
Pensions should not be such a hot potato. It is only those who have endless hours of leisure who have the time to make so much noise on the subject.
Harry, Thanet UK
As an ex-Equitable policy holder and an under-performing endowment policy holder, I have given up on financial institutions. I don't see why I should line the pockets of the incompetent fat cats. The state are doing nothing to remedy this, so I intend to be a burden on the state when I retire.
Richard Bagnall, Cambridge, UK
Private firms have been criticised before for dipping into pension funds. The fact that the government is taking money from the public pension fund now, sets a very poor example for businesses to follow. What we are seeing is a sneaky version of old Labour.
Andy Bird, Cheshire, UK
This is a Labour mess from earlier, which is now surfacing. The Labour government of the 1970s should have encouraged people to save towards their retirement. Now they are paying the price. Good old Labour¿..
Alfie Noakes, North of England, UK
We relied upon the Government to tell us the truth about pension funding over the years. Pensions? No problem - elect us. We relied upon our employers to properly finance our corporate pension funds. They didn't. And now somehow we are being blamed for not saving enough!
Victor, Oxford, UK
Two Government blunders have brought us to where we are, one during Thatcher's years and the de-regulation of the industry and the second recently, when Gordon Brown removed the tax support for company pension schemes. Of course the blessed Margaret and Gordon have hefty index linked pensions provided by me and you.
Gerry, Scotland
Most pensions have increased far below the rate of real pensioner carried inflation. Interest income and dividend income has fallen. Council Tax up, fuel up, food up, indirect taxes up. Current pension contribution rates valid only if economy picks up but we have over valued currency, trade deficit, excessive domestic borrowing, rising prices for oil and steel and ageing population. The worst is yet to come. Is Labour brilliant at running the economy? I don't think so.
Jeremy Blatchford, Bristol UK
Why is it the government's fault that you can't spend the last 20-30 years of your life doing nothing but holidaying?
Leigh, Edinburgh
It's a bit odd that having increased tax by £5bn a year on peoples savings towards their pensions, that they should now start to say that we're not saving enough towards our pensions.
Steve, UK
Where did it all go wrong? In a word: Greed. I started work just at the time of the private pensions boom, in the early 80's. At the time I was in the local government pension scheme and remember being told by colleagues how rubbish the return was in comparison to the schemes they were in and the profits their policies would make, fortunately I remembered the old saying 'If it looks too good to be true, It probably is too good to be true' Not many of them are crowing now, in fact most are blaming it on someone else.
Martyn Howie, Scotland
As a pensioner punished by Gordon Brown when he revoked the tax benefit on share dividends held in PEPS and falling further and further behind "average earnings" it is time for this or any subsequent government to start reversing the trend or we will all be on the "Bread Line", reminiscent of the 30's.What is so desperate is that there is no incentive to provide, at least in part, for the future.
Edcorbett, Pencoed Wales
The same Government that has presided over this disaster is telling us they are fit to govern for 5 more years? In five more years, it looks like almost a fifth of the population will be either at or below the poverty-line. Did I miss something?
Ian, Brit in USA
My experience has been that actual returns on savings over 35 years have never kept pace with inflation rates, and cost of living increases. (Excepting perhaps the property market recently.) Meanwhile the Financial sector...massively profitable... have acted as parasites on the efforts of the whole "baby Boom" generation to provide for their own pensions. I realised some time ago that I, like many of my age, shall never be in a position to afford to truly retire.
TD, Scotland
We only have a pensions crisis because of past population explosions. Now the
population growth is stable, the problem will disappear within a generation.
Daniel, UK
I'm afraid that this government has a very short term view of pensions - perhaps they don't intend to be around in about 5 years time when the bubble bursts? I have taken measures to ensure that any wealth I have has been transferred abroad to avoid the punitive taxes - including inheritance tax - applied in this country. When I retire I will take out residency in another European country and say good riddance to this government.
Terry, Epsom, Surrey, England
It is utterly sickening to be taxed to the hilt to pay for the government's pension while at the same time being patronised by being told I have to save for my own pension. It's about time the armies of people in non-jobs in the public sector lost their cushy guaranteed pensions and lived by the same rules as the rest of us. Typical of New Labour to tax our pensions to pay for their own.
John B, UK
What a good idea a pension is - you save all your life then hand over your savings to an insurance company who pay out a pathetic amount per year and then when you die they keep the lot! What a fantastic deal that is, I think not !
Adrian Mugridge, Chester, UK
Concerned about government pensions in the future, I joined a company pension scheme in March this year. Last month, I found out that my employers had stolen my contributions from my pay cheques and had embezzled funds from our stakeholder pensions since April. The pension company itself didn't even bother to mention this to us. The government won't provide for us in our old age, and we can't even do the same for ourselves any more. How are we supposed to save for our futures when the entire system is so fundamentally flawed?
K, Yorkshire, UK
Gordon Brown should take action against buy-to-rent. The money currently invested in second properties would move back into pension funds, boost share prices and encourage further savings. It would reduce the shortage of houses to buy, bringing down prices and enabling people to divert even more money from mortgage payments to pension savings.
Jon, Reading, UK
For years we have been told to save for retirement - and people always put it off. We went wrong by living for today for too long, and I doubt if people will ever change.
Gillian, England
No, the government have a pension crisis not, the people! Our parents paid into the system, we did then, surprise, surprise, the pot's empty. 'we' have a crisis? people have not saved. No because it was taken out of our wages on a promise! Where has all the money gone? We are still not allowed to know what Mr. Blair has done with the gold? No dentist, no proper health care, 'freeze pensioners council tax' What sort of con is that, to deduct it from the property when you die? .
Pam, Kingston
Current pensioners generally paid a pittance into the state pension and happily voted for low tax governments that chose not to invest the money, but to spend it in the same financial year. If they have a complaint, take it to the politicians they elected. Asking current workers to pay out lavish amounts is nothing short of arrogance.
David Panks, Leeds, UK
People are no different to government. Instead of saving and investing a proportion of their income for retirement, most individuals need the money to survive before that day. People believe that the NI contributions they make are being saved and invested by the government to pay for their future payments. Government claims that if people did without some of their luxuries, they could save. Government spends the peoples NI contributions on luxuries for government. The old saying "do as I say, not as I do" comes to mind.
David, Livingston
Blair's lies about the war must be the most serious charge to be made against a politician but surely what Brown has done to our Pensions must rank a close second. He has taken us from the best to the worst pension position in just seven years. No pensioner should vote labour. The conservatives at least have a policy for restoring the level of pensions
Tom Butcher, Nottingham.
I scent another coat of whitewash applied to a Labour party disaster. The pensions crisis has been caused by Gordon Brown taking 40 billion pounds from private pension schemes, and Labour is desperately seeking to blame someone else, anyone else.
BF, London, UK
With the rising costs of my mortgage and keeping my family and other various basic living essentials, I just about break even on my salary even though I have resisted using credit. The problem here is that I can't afford to take part in my employers pension scheme. There are many like me storing up a big problem for the future.
Andrew, UK
Having spent 2 years in a job where I had to informing retiring pension policy holders exactly how much they would get from their hard earned savings, I learnt that pension policies are a waste of money, I've always taken ones paid for by my employers but I won't put my own money into one. I'm planning to have a business to keep me going in old age, maybe selling pensions...!
Jennifer, Netherlands, ex UK
Burying our heads in the sand is going to do no good. Everybody should be worried about their pension as it is obvious to most of us we are not saving enough as a nation. Two steps (which I doubt those in power will actually do) are firstly reverse Gordon Browns tax on pensions and secondly make saving for pensions compulsory. Not exactly vote winning ideas though nor enough for those approaching retirement but it would be a good start!
Clive, Woking
You can bet your last taxed pound that there will be quite a few people who will not be working even past the normal retirement age. That will be MP's, ministers and the veritable of civil servants. Their index-linked nest eggs will be the main reason we have to work until we drop. I guess the best answer is to get aboard the gravy train.
Duncan, London
Maybe the government need to follow the lead of the Australian government. Superannuation contributions are mandatory for all wage earners- even those in temp roles. You can chose your fund, but you have to contribute. Lower earners are encouraged to contribute as much as is affordable and the government matches it. In UK when I started work (18 years ago) we were led to believe government pensions were a right through NI contributions. Time to change the mindset of workers.
Christine, Australia (ex UK)
I scent another coat of whitewash applied to a Labour party disaster. The pensions crisis has been caused by Gordon Brown taking 40 billion pounds from private pension schemes, and Labour is desperately seeking to blame someone else, anyone else, for Gordon's "brown hole"
BF, London, UK
No, the government have a pension crisis not, the people! Our parents paid into the system, we did then, surprise, surprise, the pot's empty. 'WE' have a crisis? people have not saved. No because it was taken out of our wages on a promise!
Pam, Kingston
As an ex-Equitable policy holder and an under-performing endowment policy holder, I have given up on financial institutions. I don't see why I should line the pockets of the incompetent fat cats. The state are doing nothing to remedy this, so I intend to be a burden on the state when I retire. I'll have to un-learn the hard work and honesty ethics.
Richard Bagnall, Cambridge, UK
Pensions should not be such a hot potato. It is only those who have endless hours of leisure who have the time to make so much noise on the subject. I wonder who could be making such a noise? Of course: the millions of pensioners who are currently doing little or nothing for the country's economic benefit!
Harry, Thanet UK
By the Government failing to regulate Pensions adequately, it is no surprise that many people do not bother with them. It is only after I had been paying into my Company scheme for 20 years that I realised the terms can be changed at any time, and if my Employer decides to 'outsource' me, my Pension has no protection under TUPE.
Mark, Glasgow, UK
If people don't take responsibility for themselves and save for their future (be it private pensions, savings accounts, etc.) then they only have themselves to blame when they're poor in old age and find themselves having to work past 65 - although what an OAP can contribute to the workplace I fail to see.
RB, Suffolk
It seems that the only people with a good (final salary) pension provision work in the public sector. This is paid for by workers with inferior provisions in the private sector and is clearly not fair.
Steve W, Cambs, UK
This is a crisis of the governments own making. There are too many people taking from 'pot' and not enough paying in, it's as simple as that. Our money, money paid in National Insurance, money which should be there for us when we retire, is frittered away on people who have never paid into the system and probably never will.
Andy Moore, Wednesbury, England
The first thing to do is get the government out of this mess. Gordon Brown currently takes between £5Bn and £7Bn per year out of all our pensions. For anyone from Labour to say a word about this (other than "sorry") is hypocritical in the extreme.
John R Smith, UK
Current pensioners who have contributed into the system all their lives are not treated fairly by the government. Secondly, financial pensions scandals where people lost some or all of their pensions savings and the collapse of company schemes have made those who want to save hesitant or to stop pensions saving.
Finally, there are people of non-pensionable age currently who believe it is their right for the government to look after them so there is no need to save. Pensions are in a crisis in this country. The Government should introduce compulsory pensions saving.
Ann, England
Anyone 50+ who has tried to look for work knows that the Government plan for us to work until 70 will only be for a small minority of people.
Elaine, England
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