LONDON: One in every five people in Britain does not have any idea of the value of their state pension when they retire, research by charity Help the Aged has revealed.
It found that nearly two thirds of those queried thought they would not be able to live on their final pension.
The poll-based survey was conducted by Mori covering 1,067 working adults in the broad age group of 18 years to 54 years. It brought to the fore that 20 per cent of people expect that pension should be their main source of income in retirement. Just about 10 told the pollsters that they had made enough provision for their retirement.
Help the Aged had undertaken the research in order to bring out the attitudes of people to pensions to provide inputs to the Pensions Commission, which is expected to submit its report on 30 November.
The charity said it does not support an increase in pension age, but it wanted the payouts to be more generous. It also called for radical action to correct people's perceptions revealed in the study. It has also called for an overhaul of the system to one based on residency rather than contributions so pensioners now and in the future will be better served.
The charity's director general Michael Lake said one in five think they will come to rely on basic state provision as one of their main sources of income. And that is already the case for over half of today's pensioners. "Some experts have suggested that figure could rise to 70 per cent in years to come."
Lake said the best way to handle the situation is to introduce a fair Citizen's Pension based on residency, set at a level that would achieve a decent standard of living.
Another study by NFP Synergy of 1,000 adults found 62 per cent were worried that the pension would not be enough to live on when they retired. The study found that 31 per cent of women have no idea whether they have paid enough into their pension for it to be worth anything, compared to 24 per cent of men.
The Mori survey also found that 62 per cent of the respondents thought pensioner poverty had worsened in the past 10 years despite the government investing 11 billion pounds a year on the poorest pensioners. Only 13 per cent felt the poverty had fallen and 16 per cent said there had been no change.
There were reports two days ago that the government is planning to raise the retirement age to 67 so that people can be provided with generous pensions. It may help pay for an increase in the basic state pension from just over 80 pounds a week now to 109 pounds a week - the current level of income guaranteed by the Pensions Credit.
Posted
on : Sun, 20 Nov 2005 10:25 GMT | Pensions News
By : Mike Lawson
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