Petition against state pension age increase to 66

genie8

I've read previous threads, but it seems to have died a death. Can some-one help me start a petition/protest or point me in the direction of one that is ongoing. Come on baby boomers - surely we're not going to take this lying down?

dunstonh

What bit are you not happy about?

The state pension age increase to 68 is already set in law and sorted years ago. It's a bit late to be complaining about it now.

Or is it just the brining forward of the age 66 that you are not happy with?

vbm

genie8 wrote: »

I've read previous threads, but it seems to have died a death. Can some-one help me start a petition/protest or point me in the direction of one that is ongoing. Come on baby boomers - surely we're not going to take this lying down?

If you can access at 66, then you have done very well.

I can see this age rising several times in the next 20-30 years. Either that or the country will be bankrupted.

flashnazia

Perhaps it seems to have died a death because ppl realise that this country is heavily in debt (if it was a person it would be declared bankrupt by now).

Baby boomers have had the best of it anyway (free tuition cheap houses).

Old_Slaphead

flashnazia wrote: »

Baby boomers have had the best of it anyway (free tuition cheap houses).

Yes but not that many went to University and gap years were few & far between. Many had 10+ years working before they had their first mortgage. We didn't have cheap flights, foreign holidays, computers, FSTs etc. Also we didn't have parents / grandparents with any money to leave us in their wills !

Anyway as regards bringing increased retirement ages forward I don't think too many would object if each year's increase was phased in over say 4 years (say increasing the retirement age by a quarter year on each 1st April) so that there isn't this steep cutoff whereby someone 1 day younger can lose out by £5000.

jamesd

genie8, a baby boomer retiring today has around twenty years of baby boomers retiring after them. One more year of work and one year less of paying out for them can help to keep the costs and potential for a revolt by the younger generation lower.

genie8

I agree with old slaphead. I understand that the state pension age has to increase. It is just not fair to give us less than 10 years notice.

jamesd

genie8, there's a time limit of catching the retiring baby boomers, so that does tend to require fairly short times. Things like offering 0% interest loans for five years of their basic and additional state pension value to those who retire at the current age could help to spread the cost, though. Or just half of that amount, since saving £84 a month for five years of notice will accumulate £5000 plus interest and cover the basic state pension part.

The loan approach won't deliver all of the benefit because those taking them won't be paying NI for an extra year but it will help them to cover the cost of the lost pension year.

artha

jamesd wrote: »

genie8, a baby boomer retiring today has around twenty years of baby boomers retiring after them. One more year of work and one year less of paying out for them can help to keep the costs and potential for a revolt by the younger generation lower.

Not sure that the baby boomers scenario and consequences is quite accurate in the broader sense and is somewhat overplayed. As far as I'm aware the baby boomer generation is an American term for a temporary rise in birth rate in the USA but the trend was mirrored here of course and has been adopted for various political purposes.

The so called boom was an upturn in birth rates following the rapid decline in the 30's depression and the second world war.This followed birth rates in the early part of the twentieth century that far exceeded that of the baby boom so the boom was exaggerated by the rapid fall in the thirties. That low point saw a low number of people taking state pension in the period 1995-2000. During that period stress on the system was probably very low but it was recognised that it would rise but only to a point that had been experienced prior to that period

Taken over the long term the "boom" was just a "blip" and has been used as an excuse to make rapid cuts that could have been forecast as being necessary many years ago or better still measures should have been in place in the 70s/80s to deal with it. That particular problem lies with 5 year government terms .

The current "problem" with baby boomers will therefore only last for the years between 2014-2024. The problem following that will be how to cope with the ageing population that needs care home residence and not pension payments. Pension payments will just be taken back until it is recognised that dementia is an illness that needs to be dealt with under the NHS