MSE News: Government outlines flat-rate state pension

A question about : MSE News: Government outlines flat-rate state pension

The Coalition's proposals include plans to introduce a single flat-rate state pension for new pensioners from 2017...

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Government outlines flat-rate state pension

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• So i get penalized because i pay into a private pension THANK YOU But those who choose not to work and pays no ni or tax gets a pension
• This is just typical of this condem government. Changing the goal posts yet again, is it any wonder that our young don't believe in pensions when their parents who have paid into the system all their working lives are going to be penalised.
• Am I missing something here?
  This is all about the state pension. What affect do these changes have on a private or employers pension? (which is paid on top of the state pension)
  What I do note, however, is that today many people are expected to go to university, so don't start their working life until they are at least 21.
  Add 35 years to that, and bang goes early retirement at 55 which was very popular not so long ago (especially with those who had a good employers or private pension)
  I know you don't get the state pension until the official retirement age, but if you need to make 35 years NI contributions, then you won't get full state pension even then if you retire early.
  (If you are a woman who takes time off to have a baby, you'll have to work even longer!)
  Mind you, people our age have always been told not to rely on a state pension ... and this goes to prove it.
• My husband has worked all his life from the age of 15 and paid in a lot of contributions.He misses this new higher pension by 3 months.So very unfair.He has some state second pension to come but not enough to get the full new rate.Because we have been prudent and have savings,plus we have saved for a small private pension he will get no pension credit.Yet those who have saved nothing and put nothing by will get more.
  I do not see why they cannot just forget the pension credit and give everyone a fair amount,perhaps a bit less than Ј144 but give it to EVERYBODY.
• Yes more NI getting fed up now i work i earn i pay taxes and get punished even further go figure
• What about all those people who paid 'extra' contributions by cheque to make up for years when they didn't work enough hours to qualify for the full state pension? Turns out they didn't need to pay after all.
  Too late now, though.
  I can't help thinking if HMRC was a private company someone would now be chasing them for the return of those cheques.
  EDIT: after several hours, I now think I was jumping to conclusions here. It seems you WOULD still have to pay extra voluntary contributions to qualify for the full 'flat rate' amount proposed.
• So the boomers are going to get a significantly higher pension in 2017 - paid for by the rest of us....makes ya sick!
• I have paid 20 full years NI contribution with only 10 years from the max 30 years to qualify for my full state pension, Not only are they going to increase my NI because i pay a private pension but they also expect me to pay a further 5 years NI to qualify for a full state pension o and not forgetting that i might not be able to claim untill i am 68 yrs of age.
• This is going to be an administrative nightmare for private sector final salary schemes.
• They soulld give you the option to transfer to the new scheme if it is better for you and assuming you have made the requirements including 35 years NI payments.
  If you don't like what they do you have an option to say so in the next election.
• It is also frustrating if you are a low paid self employed person. I have already paid stamps for 39 years but never earned enough or regularly enough to pay into a pension. But aware of self employed meaning no second state pension have saved when I could into an ISA. This has built a very small sum which has been all but demolished by low interest rates. As a pension it would barely add Ј20 per week onto what I get when I reach retirement age (before the new scheme arrives).
  If I understand this new idea correctly self employed people will now get the same as everyone else - so someone qualifying just after me will get around Ј20 per week more than I will without having made any savings provisions at all. And Ј40 per week discounting my ISA savings.
  I would have to defer my pension by several years to reach the Ј144 level AND be better off by squandering all the ISA money that I saved for my Ј20 per week top up. Because if I keep it I lose access to pension credit by having these savings. But if I do not have them then I will get the credit to make up my pension.
  So unless I am missing something here this new pension system is surely going to basically tell anyone with only modest savings and/or self employed and set to retire in the next 3-4 years to dump all their savings as keeping them will only make them significantly worse off.
  If I am not misreading things here that sounds absurd.
• Every time I take advice on pension planning, the rules change. Based on previous advice from the pension service, I didn't need to purchase additional years of contributions. Now it looks as if I would have been better off doing it at the time, because now I'll need 35 years of contributions not 30. And my pension eligibility age keeps changing - first it was 60, then I was part of the phasing-in stage and due to be eligible at 62, then last year it changed to 66.
  I contributed to company pension final salary schemes which were then wound up in the 2000's. The re-invested money has been hit by the financial crisis.
  We're told to be responsible and to plan ahead, but no-one knows what's best because not only do the goalposts keep moving but the rules of the game keep changing too. It seems only those who can afford the fees for regular financial advice are able to keep up with the game, and it seems that no-one but the very rich can actually get ahead of the game.
  How on earth do any of us plan for our old age?