Will they get rid of or reduce full state pension?

sevenhills

No, will stay

JoeCrystal said:

However their State pension is very different since it is funded wholly out of general taxation so must meet a lot more rules such as assets, income tests and the fact you actually must live in Australia at the time of claiming as well and of citizenship as well or some form of permanent residence visa (not sure about that).

It's wrong that people that have paid into the system don't get it, where ever they live.
Paying NI could well be classed as general taxation.

Silvertabby

No, will stay

MarkCarnage said:

It was rumoured that the Tories were going to abolish the State pension for all - including current recipients - just before the 1997 General Election.

A moment's thought would have revealed this to be groundless surely? It would have been the biggest political self inflicted wound in history given the demographics of Tory support. 

The need to create a better means of funding retirement is real, but one which will take decades to achieve if at all....the actual policy statement seemed to outline a 'double lock' effectively, stating that NI would be ring fenced to an invested fund, but the outcome underpinned by a floor of basic State Pension. Quite long way away from the supposed 'rumour'.....step forward Alistair Campbell I suspect.,....

Exactly.  But we are talking about elderly people who mistakenly  believed that they would lose their only source of income  -  and panicked.

Silvertabby

No, will stay

p00hsticks said:

MrE1 said:

marlot said:

I suspect it could become means-tested at some point.

That's a valid point! Would anyone have any opinions or evidence on the likelihood of state pension becoming means tested?

I think the general view is that much of the potential savings arising from means testing are eaten in up in the additional resources required to carry it out. And it leads to some people not claiming what they are due because they don't want people priying into their affairs (there are pensioners now who take great umbrage in the State Pension being described as a 'benefit', even though that is how it's classed).

So in my view means testing of the State Pension won't happen.As someone else pointed out earlier up this thread, there are other more subtle ways of clawing back money from the better off pensioners - for example changes to the income tax or NI regimes. And if the overall pension budget needs to be reduced I think it more likely to happen by  a gradual reduction in it;s value - e,g by removing the triple lock. The introduction of the new State Pension has already capped what people can get down from the days when people could build up State Pensions of £300+

Like others, I think tightening up the qualifications  for a full state pensions would be a good money saving exercise. I know people on this board make use of it (and I don't blame them) but it seems ludicrous to me that people living abroad or claiming to be dog walkers and the like can build up a full State Pension entitlement  by  simply paying voluntary Class 2 NI.

When I mentioned on these boards that I was going to top my pension up to the full single tier rate by paying 4 years of voluntary Class 3s, more than one person responded that I could pay the (much cheaper) Class 2s simply by selling a few bits and bobs on e-bay.

I paid Class 3s, as I considered that engineering a Class 2 entitlement just by selling stuff that I would normally donate to a charity shop simply .... wasn't ethical. 

Grumpy_chap

SouthCoastBoy said:

At the start of the next parliament we will set out proposals to provide all young people entering the workforce with a personal pension fund paid for through a rebate on their national insurance contributions. At retirement they would be entitled to the full pension earned by this accumulated investment. This could give them a pension significantly higher than they would currently receive from the state. But they will be guaranteed a pension at least equal to the current bask state pension, increased in line with inflation.

While that seems to have gone (as a whole) , we've had elements of that over the years.
SERPS
Opted out pensions
Auto-enrolment

The_Green_Hornet said:

At the last general election all four main UK political parties pledged in their manifestos to keep the state pension triple lock, probably as they see it as a vote winner ,and it is one of the few things that has cross party consensus.

Personally, I can't see any party getting rid of the state pension. Any changes to it will be as they now in that you will have to work longer before you get it.

Somehow, eventually, the Triple Lock will have to end as it will become unsustainable.

Over the long-term, inflation and earnings tend to rise in broad alignment, but rarely matched in any individual year.  The state pension takes the best of both worlds.
Then add the 2.5% minimum uplift for periods when earnings and inflation are both low.

Ultimately, the state pension will rise to above GDP.

Terron

No, will stay

p00hsticks said:

Silvertabby said:

JoeCrystal said:

Have a look at how Australia do it for example. We seem to follow their path regarding auto enrollment. However their State pension is very different since it is funded wholly out of general taxation so must meet a lot more rules such as assets, income tests and the fact you actually must live in Australia at the time of claiming as well and of citizenship as well or some form of permanent residence visa (not sure about that).

But I am sure whatever the plan that Government undertake, it wil always going to be less and less generous. (And perhaps stop issuing contributions to people who never paid for it or get them for free or indeed, extremely cheaply for overseas employees and residents as well)

Actually, the UK State pension was means tested when it was first introduced in 1919.  And it wasn't payable until age 70, for both men and women.  The means test was dropped in the 1920s, and I really can't see it being re-introduced.  

Not just means tested - all applications had to go before a Pensions commitee to decide if you were 'of good character' - for example, I think anyone who had been convicted of drunkenness in recent years was ineligible.

The UK first state pension was introduced in 1908 - 5 shillings (£0.25) a week for those over age 70 whose annual means did not exceed £31 10s.