Category: Poverty
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Independent Age’s new report, The only way is up, is a really timely and important contribution to the adequacy debate. The report examines how increasing take-up of Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction could affect pensioner poverty and state spending. Here are some key stats: In 2023/24, 62% of people eligible for Pension…
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The first WFFI session
Adequacy, Annuities, Automatic enrolment, Behavioural economics, Benefits, Carers, Consolidation, Contributions, Dashboards, Decumulation, Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, Disability, Drawdown, Early access, Engagement, Ethnicity, Financial inclusion, Guidance/advice, Housing, Inflation, Investment, Pension freedoms, Pensions gap, Poverty, Retirement, WomenI ran the first Women’s Financial Future Initiative session today, over the lunch hour, with fifteen women at Bravura Solutions. The Initiative exists because the pension system already contains protections for the things that shape a lot of women’s working lives, such as time out for caring, part time hours and relationship change. I don’t…
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The Commission’s interim report does not say it will lower the first Commission’s target replacement rates, but it does build the analytical case for doing so. It introduces a new set of lower “policy element” replacement rates based on what the State Pension and minimum automatic enrolment contributions were actually designed to deliver. It suggests…
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The road to Pensions Goth – a Pensions Net-Work after dinner speech
Adequacy, Automatic enrolment, Behavioural economics, Benefits, Carers, Decumulation, Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, Disability, DWP, Early access, Ethnicity, Financial inclusion, Gender, History, Housing, Income, Inflation, Labour market, Long term care, Mansion House, Pension freedoms, Pensions Commission, Pensions gap, Poverty, Private pensions, Retirement, Self employed, State Pension, State Pension age, Triple lock, WomenI never meant to end up in pensions. In fact, I spent the first 15 years or so of my life dreaming about overthrowing capitalism. My father was a Marxist and fed this passion, telling me I would grow up to be a leader of men, and I actually felt that being a revolutionary wasn’t…
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Pensioners are often described as a group that has benefited from generous pensions, rising property values and stable incomes. But this view overlooks the reality for many older people. There is significant variation in income and security among pensioners, and a growing number face financial hardship. Poverty in later life can mean being unable to…
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When the Government announced it would restrict the Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) to pensioners on Pension Credit in 2024, it did so without any published impact assessment. A benefit that once reached nearly every pensioner, worth up to £300 a year, was removed from around 10 million people on the basis of a targeting principle…
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On Tuesday, the Government announced reforms to working age disability benefits with the stated aim of helping those who can work to do so, and supporting those who can’t. This will be done via providing more support and incentives to work, as well as making it harder to achieve eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP),…
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There has been talk recently in the news about means testing the State Pension. This is because the costs of the State Pension will continue to grow, despite increases in State Pension age (SPa). Spending on State pension in 2024/25 is forecast to be around £137.5bn. Spending on state pensions and pensioner benefits costs around…
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The energy price cap went up again on January 1st, by 1.2%. This brings the average household energy bill energy to £1,738 a year, an increase of £21 a month. This follows on from previous adjustments: Month Average annual bill for those on direct debit * January 2025 £1,738 October 2024 £1,717 July 2024 £1,568…
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I gave evidence to the work and pensions select committee today on pensioner poverty. They are interested in the causes of pensioner poverty and the role that state pensions and benefits play in ameliorating poverty. We talked about so many things during the hour in which I gave evidence alongside Carl Emmerson (IFS), Carole Easton…