Britain's biggest older people's organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has claimed that today's Scottish Widows’ survey showing that 1 in 3 people cannot afford to save for their retirement, is further evidence that the government’s pensions’ policy is beginning to unravel.
Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: "Most financial experts agree that you need a pension pot of about £100,000 to provide an income in retirement of around £6000 a year, but millions of today’s workers – even those in occupational pension schemes – will not get anywhere near that amount. The government’s entire pensions’ policy has relied on means-tested benefits and good company pensions to take people out of poverty in retirement – but this approach is now beginning to unravel. A third of pensioners will still be means-tested in 2050 and good company pension schemes are becoming a thing of the past.”
“The latest figures show that 1 in 4 pensioners already live below the poverty line of £151 a week – 62% of pensioner couples get by on £10,000 or less each year and it looks as if future generations will be even worse off than their parents and grandparents. Rising fuel, food and council tax bills are pushing people further into financial hardship, yet the government’s answer to this looming pensions’ crisis is to tell people to work longer, by raising the age of retirement to 68.”
“A strengthened national insurance based state pension set above the poverty level and linked to earnings offers the most effective way of giving everyone – both now and in the future – real financial security and dignity in retirement.”
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