Miscellaneous -
Pensions
British
pensioners get a raw deal compared with our
European neighbours and the US and in nearly
every case, their basic state pensions beat ours.
They also get free local transport and lavishly
discounted rail and air fares and holidays.
Dozens of other benefits include lower utility
and phone bills, free meals-on- wheels and free
home help and they rarely face long hospital
waiting lists. Germany's average state pension is
more than FOUR TIMES the UK's. Single pensioners
here receive £77.45 a week. There, it's £330
and up because Germans are paid 70% of what they
earned at work.
Dutch pensioners pick up a £31-a-month holiday
allowance on top of a basic pension of £134.25 a
week. They also get a special 65-plus pass that
gives discounts on theatres, swimming pools and
further education, plus subsidised home help. In
France, everyone can retire at 60 and they have
some of the best healthcare in the world. In the
US, ageism is outlawed. It is illegal to ask a
job applicant how old they are or to fire staff
because of age.
The
pensions which workers can expect are being cut
by around a third when companies convert final
salary schemes to defined contribution ones. A
survey of 272 company pension schemes found where
companies had axed their final salary schemes,
they reduced the amount they paid into the new
pension by an average of a third, and in some
cases as much as half. The research by Union
Pension Services also found around a quarter of
companies had now closed their final salary
schemes to new members, up from around 10% when
the survey was last carried out three years' ago.
Lower investment returns and increased life
expectancy have made it increasingly expensive
for firms to offer final salary schemes.
Instead they are switching to less generous
defined contribution ones, under which they only
guarantee how much they pay into a scheme and not
what it will be worth on retirement, leaving
staff to shoulder the risk of stock market falls.
Author of the report Bryn Davies said, "Many
employers remain committed to final pay schemes.
But if they switch to a money purchase basis most
take the opportunity to cut back on the value of
their employees' pension benefits. As a result,
their workers not only face a higher risk from
their new scheme, but are also likely to have a
much lower income in old age."
Widowers
and widows are being treated differently despite
changes in the law to make them equal. Some
widowers are receiving less benefits and
different tax treatment to widows. Women who lost
their husbands before April 2001 are entitled to
the widowed mother's allowance of £75.50 a week
and, if they are aged over 45, a widow's pension
starting at £22.65 a week, as well as an annual
tax allowance of £1,970. But men in identical
circumstances are not able to claim any of these
benefits. This difference was abolished by the
Finance Act 1999 and the Welfare Reform Act 1999,
which came into force in April 2001 and refocused
widows' benefits to help families with children
regardless of which parent had died.
But in 1999 Christopher Crossland received a
payment equivalent to widow's bereavement tax
allowance from the Inland Revenue after taking
his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
And in 2000 the then Department of Social
Security agreed to a similar settlement with
David Cornwell after he also took his case to
court. The Ombudsman has received 66 complaints
against the Inland Revenue and a further six
against the Department for Work and Pensions from
widowers. They argue that they are being treated
unfairly because, unlike those who took their
case to court, they have been refused payments
equivalent to the widows' benefits.
More
than four million married women who have paid £8
billion in national insurance contributions will
receive little or no state pension in return.
Married women were for many years allowed the
option to pay national insurance at a rate of
3.85 per cent instead of the standard rate of 10
per cent. They were offered the option of
reverting to full rate payments in 1977, but many
claim that they were not informed of the
consequences of not doing so. Now many are
finding that their own pension entitlement will
be only a few pence per week.
Taxmen stopped sending out payment reminders in
1998 to save cash - leaving 13million people
needing to find up to £1,630 to ensure they get
their full State pension. The Inland Revenue
admitted that it suspended a system of sending
reminders to people who needed to make up
National Insurance payments following a period
out of work. A spokesman said, "It was a
business decision that had to be taken at that
time. People will have up to April 2008 to make
payments, if they want to. No one will lose
out."
He added, "The decision to suspend these
notices was taken by the Contributions Agency
when it was the responsibility of the then
Department for Social Security, but no minister
was consulted or informed of this decision. The
Government will make a full written statement to
the House of Commons." The Inland Revenue
estimated up to 13 million people could show a
shortfall for one of the six years between 1996
and 2002 and 200,000 could have missed out on
payments in all six. They will have to find about
£200 for each year they missed topping up their
National Insurance.
Next >>>
Home
These articles
have been collected from various sources. If you
are the copyright owner of any of them, contact us for
either a credit and link to your site or removal
of the article.
--------------