State Pension Age

brewerdave · 11 October 2016 at 8:45AM

...Just as a matter of interest, how would they find out if one was a graduate? AFAIA there is no central register and the latest recipients of SP could have graduated in the early70s....so how??

PensionTech · 11 October 2016 at 9:19AM

Thanks for the link jamesd - I'm not sure about the DM's assertion that a 45-year working life would mean graduates waiting until nearly 70. Most of my peers left uni at 21, so this would give them a state pension age of 66 - lower than what they're currently facing. Of course, people with doctorates, Masters' degrees etc would be affected more. I wonder how this would apply to sandwich courses, School Direct, PhDs (where students may often teach classes), etc. Or the OU, or people taking part-time university courses, or people just generally working while studying...

JezR · 11 October 2016 at 10:12AM

greenglide wrote: »

But the £10 Christmas bonus is not, actually, a pension payment, it is a payment made to all recipients of qualifying benefits.

Indeed it is and its other unusual feature is that it is not paid from the NIF but the consolidated fund. However, the fact that it is paid more widely does not negate it being paid with the state pension.

It was somewhat of a late change in 1977 to resume paying it as the cancelling of it was continuing to be a drag on the government's popularity and was brought up each year as Christmas approached. It was defended on the grounds that there had been a general up rating of pensions and other qualifying benefits but this kind of got lost during the year in the era of high inflation.

bigfreddiel · 11 October 2016 at 6:34PM

brewerdave wrote: »

...Just as a matter of interest, how would they find out if one was a graduate? AFAIA there is no central register and the latest recipients of SP could have graduated in the early70s....so how??

Doesn't matter, here is how it will work:

Graduates will be made to wait longer for their state pension while others retire earlier under a two-tier system that is being considered by the government.
Under the proposals, which will affect everyone under 55, the plan would see a full state pension of £155.65 a week paid to anyone who has made 45 years of national insurance (NI) contributions, according to The Times.
That means that anyone who delays starting work, for example by attending further education, would end up reaching their 45-year target a few years later and therefore waiting longer to draw their state pension.
The reforms will be put forward as part of a wide-ranging review into the state pension, being conducted by John Cridland, former director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
The paper said work and pensions secretary Damian Green supported the measure.
It quoted a senior government source who said: ‘Linking work contribution and pension age seems like it could be a sensible way forward. It could meet all our criteria: fair, balanced and looking after those who can’t work while encouraging those who can.
'We’ll look at all the options put forward by Cridland, but linking the pension age to life expectancy through work contributions is one route Damian is keen on, at this early stage.’

simple innit! fj

Archi_Bald · 11 October 2016 at 6:59PM

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Doesn't matterj

Of course it matters. As brewerdave said, there is no register so graduates cannot be identified. Further, nobody is prevented from paying voluntary NICs from age 18.

zagfles · 11 October 2016 at 7:13PM

PensionTech wrote: »

Thanks for the link jamesd - I'm not sure about the DM's assertion that a 45-year working life would mean graduates waiting until nearly 70. Most of my peers left uni at 21, so this would give them a state pension age of 66 - lower than what they're currently facing. Of course, people with doctorates, Masters' degrees etc would be affected more. I wonder how this would apply to sandwich courses, School Direct, PhDs (where students may often teach classes), etc. Or the OU, or people taking part-time university courses, or people just generally working while studying...

Yes it's just another ridiculous example of the headline not reflecting the underlying story to try to make it more sensational than it is. Most degree courses are 3 years, not 7, so for them the SPA at 66 will be far lower than what they're facing now under current changes.

Also many students work both during term time and holidays - just over 15 hours pw at NMW will earn enough to get NI credits.

jamesd · 11 October 2016 at 8:00PM

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Under the proposals, which will affect everyone under 55, the plan would see a full state pension of £155.65 a week paid to anyone who has made 45 years of national insurance (NI) contributions

That would be a sneaky and underhand way of doing business.

First, the single tier state pension is introduced which cut the state pension for full working life low earners from around £190 a week to £155 a week, and a greater cut for those with a higher income, with 35 instead of 30 years required and no earnings or work related-related component. Justification being that it takes money from low income and other workers to help those who don't work much.

Then, the new proposal to cut the single tier pension for everyone who doesn't have a full working life.

That'd be quite nasty for people like me who bought all of the seven years it would take to get to a full basic state pension entitlement by age 59 under the pre-single tier system which required 30 years. Leaving a further three years unbought because all that would have done was drop the age of maximum BSP to 56. Then the single tier comes along and adds five years to the requirement. Whew, still can get to the maximum, now it takes until age 64, glad I left a good safety margin. Oops, now 45 years and it's no longer possible for me to get to a full state pension.

zagfles · 11 October 2016 at 10:55PM

jamesd wrote: »

That would be a sneaky and underhand way of doing business.

First, the single tier state pension is introduced which cut the state pension for full working life low earners from around £190 a week to £155 a week, and a greater cut for those with a higher income, with 35 instead of 30 years required and no earnings or work related-related component. Justification being that it takes money from low income and other workers to help those who don't work much.

Then, the new proposal to cut the single tier pension for everyone who doesn't have a full working life.

That'd be quite nasty for people like me who bought all of the seven years it would take to get to a full basic state pension entitlement by age 59 under the pre-single tier system which required 30 years. Leaving a further three years unbought because all that would have done was drop the age of maximum BSP to 56. Then the single tier comes along and adds five years to the requirement. Whew, still can get to the maximum, now it takes until age 64, glad I left a good safety margin. Oops, now 45 years and it's no longer possible for me to get to a full state pension.

It sounds like they're just proposing to let people with 45 years NI credits have the state pension a bit early. Not that they're going to stop people getting what they expect under current rules. Though it might be combined with a sharper rise in SPA for those with 35 years.

JezR · 12 October 2016 at 9:26AM

Be simpler to phase out the principle of 'contributions' altogether and base the pension figure purely on years of residency in the UK workforce - especially since apparently being unemployed, too unwell to work, looking after children etc are still to be 'credited'. Although this proposal as said above isn't at all clear about people who take their degree years or even decades after leaving school.

State Pension Age

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free