Time of year for the media to bash the state pension.

[Omegstrat6]

Just re-read my last sentence and, of course, Mick is right. When we paid into the pension scheme it was widely believed that we did so because it meant that we would all then get a state pension at the end. And we did/do, just saying that this is no longer sustainable and needs to change, particularly as the situation has changed quite a bit since most of our generations started work (when we expected to rely more on it for our retirement) and an increasing number now have company or private pensions.


Doubtless some would say that they would then rather not pay NI and source their own pensions or health care but that is always going to be a gamble as forecasting the economy is notoriously difficult. You live in a society so you have to have some form of social contract that includes paying taxes and NI. Going forward I think that the state pension will have to be means tested (but, as I posted earlier, not an all or nothing system) as this seems to me the only affordable solution.

[Omegstrat6]

100% agree with you! Do parents who send their children to private school expect a tax rebate for not taking up a state school place? A state school place still costs the tax payer over 10 grand a year per child so its not free! Same with the NHS - if you wealthy then don't drain the NHS and go private! Rich companies like Amazon should offer private BUPA to their employees but in reality - they want to pay them f uck all and get richer!

Your last point spot on! Recognizing that the current state pension system is unsustainable, the government have tried to ensure that the burden is also taken up by company schemes but many of these are quite pitiful, especially for those in part time and low paid jobs. Many companies, of course, cannot afford to provide generous pensions (and the economic crisis has forced many to downgrade their schemes) but, you are right, companies like Amazon that make huge profits can afford to offer decent pension schemes just as they could afford to pay better wages and higher taxes. Just that they chose not to and are enabled in this by governments too wary of offending them.