Should the state pension be fully means tested?

Errata · 5 June 2007 at 6:37PM

Send the results of the poll and the postings to Age Concern. It's a large population sample, crude but valid research and may be of help to them.

witchway · 6 June 2007 at 3:42PM

Hi Martin

Could you look into this for me please.

I decided not to draw my old age pension last year when I reached the grand old age of 60 - I am still working and thought that as the Pension Service would look after it for me and give me an interest rate of 2% over the Bank of England base rate that would be the best thing for me to do. Yes, I know I could put it into my Icesave account but I would be able to draw money from that which I don't want to do, I would prefer to collect a nice little nest egg in 5 or 10 years time to travel around the world or something.

Having re-read the information booklet and called the Pension Service hotline I understand that if I die without withdrawing this money, it will not go into my estate, the Pension Service will keep it. This doesn't seem fair - I don't know when my time is going to be up. This is my money, money that I have worked for all my life and because I want them to look after it my children will be denied the money which is rightfully mine and should go into my estate.

Who should I speak to about this to try to get it changed or could you get a petition going (you are rather good at stirring things up). Many thanks for the £125 redemption fee I received back from the Halifax BS. You will be pleased to know it went towards opening the IceSave Account.

Keep up the good work because without your weekly email I would still have my small amount of savings in the Portman BS which pays very little interest.

Overseas_Olly · 7 June 2007 at 9:16AM

My employer sent me overeas and after a period of paying compulsory state pension contributions I was considered to be not resident in UK. At this point I was advised that I should make my own voluntary contributions to the state pension or contribute to a private pension so that I could have a retirement pension when I returned to UK. At the time, which was 48 years ago, I was advised that the state pension would be more secure so I contributed volunterarily to the class 3 state pension while overseas and for a number of years on my return from overseas. To now make this pension means tested would be entirely wrong.

msmicawber · 9 June 2007 at 6:40PM

No, I don't think it should be fully means tested as it would cost more to administer than it would save. It would also cause distress and possible hardship to a group of vulnerable people when the inevitable mistakes are made because the system's too complicated.

Should the state pension be fully means tested?

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