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Private pensions popular in UK but not in France, Germany, Spain
Comments
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Those are wierd recommendations given that the UK actual has a (slightly) higher minimum income for pensioners than France. So why recommend increasing it for the UK and not France?
Because the French would accept that recommendation and none of the others?
With an increasing retirement age, closure of DB schemes and mostly private provision for those who want more than the minimum, the UK is in a relatively secure position. Secure enough that it isn't lunacy to suggest we could afford to increase State Pension and Pension Credit without half the working-age population rioting on the streets while the other half exit for other countries (like the UK) to escape youth unemployment.
That isn't the case in France, notwithstanding nigelbb's Comical Ali "There are no strikers on the streets of Paris, the French pension system is the envy of the world, the British middle classes are committing suicide in their hundreds in despair that they can't retire at 60 on their children's taxes" schtick.0 -
There has in fact been a creeping privatisation of the NHS over the last nine years as Tory policy & nearly 10% of NHS spending now goes to private companies like Virgin Health or Care UK providing services.
It was Tony Blair's Labour party that allowed that. in 2006. The Tories can not take all the credit.0 -
One of the reasons that the NHS is so underfunded is because of the millstone of PFI contracts which will drag on for decades & they were not only ridiculously bad value but really just funny money accounting to move capital expenditure to current expenditure when the government can borrow long term much more cheaply. The growth in private provision of NHS services has more than doubled under The Tory government over the last nine years. All that private profit is being taken out of the NHS budget.It was Tony Blair's Labour party that allowed that. in 2006. The Tories can not take all the credit.0 -
You get what you pay for. The Tory obsession with reducing personal taxation has ensured underfunding of the NHS & inferior pensions.
NHS spending is currently 7% of GDP, the same as it was in 2010 under Labour.
The pension triple lock was introduced by the coalition in 2011 has seen pensions rise relative to earnings.
The single tier pension will provide a higher pension for low earners.0 -
I referred to the AGIRC-ARRCO complementary private pension reforms that ensured long term viability being implemented so the books balanced in 2019 which was two years earlier than planned. My French pensions are 75% from AGIRC-ARRCO. The state pension reforms are indeed ongoing.Deleted_User wrote: »The French Prime Minister begs to differ:
“The government is aiming for a “financially balanced system by 2025, to restore confidence to the French in its sustainability and ensure a sufficient level of retirement for future generations”, said Edouard Philippe, prime minister.”0 -
NHS spending has declined as a percentage of GDP over the last 9 years when it actually needs to increase just to deliver the same provisions because of increasing demand of a growing & more elderly population.NHS spending is currently 7% of GDP, the same as it was in 2010 under Labour.
https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/charts-and-infographics/health-spending-as-a-share-of-gdp-remains-at-lowest-level-in0 -
One of the reasons that the NHS is so underfunded is because of the millstone of PFI contracts which will drag on for decades & they were not only ridiculously bad value but really just funny money accounting to move capital expenditure to current expenditure when the government can borrow long term much more cheaply. The growth in private provision of NHS services has more than doubled under The Tory government over the last nine years. All that private profit is being taken out of the NHS budget.
PFI was badly misused by Brown though locally more for schools. However a review by the NAO in 2010 showed that they have roughly equal value for money to the NHS, though significantly less flexible which may lead to payments for services that are no longer needed. At least one trust has bought itself out of a PFI contract to hoprfully save money long term. Since Brown stricter conditions haave been imposed and feww such contracts issued.Anyway only 3% of the NHS budget goes on PFI.
Private provision was always a high proportion of NHS services. GPs were always contractors not employees. The main difference is that now companies can provide sevices. but if they can do it cheaper they profit and the NHS saves money. The amount of private provision, or the amount of private profits is not the important bit, it is how much money is saved if any. The first two are easy to measure, the last is not as it It seems likely that trusts are saving money by using subsiduary companies going by the complaints of UNISON that such workers are paid less. That is of course a valid complaint for a union to make. Their job is to make their members cost the NHS more in wages.0 -
I think you may need to revisit your history books. PFI contracts were something that New Labour grabbed hold of and promoted from almost as soon as they took office.One of the reasons that the NHS is so underfunded is because of the millstone of PFI contracts which will drag on for decades & they were not only ridiculously bad value but really just funny money accounting to move capital expenditure to current expenditure when the government can borrow long term much more cheaply. The growth in private provision of NHS services has more than doubled under The Tory government over the last nine years. All that private profit is being taken out of the NHS budget.
This continued all the way through their tenure and towards the last few years of office they were absolutely throwing money at it. Schools, prisons, hospitals, virtually all sectors had PFI initiatives - running into hundreds of billions of pounds.
I appreciate your anti-Tory slant, however history tells a different story. It would be nice to leave the politics out completely on threads like these.0 -
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