MORE than half a million Scots will be affected by the latest pension age hike, it has been revealed, which shows the latest form of “Tory trickery”.
New figures from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) show that 550,902 Scottish men and women between the age of 39 and 47 — those born between April 6, 1970 and April 5, 1978 — will be hit by a further year-long wait before they can draw their state pension.
The Conservative government is planning to raise the state pension age to 68 from 2037, seven years earlier than initially planned. It is expected to save the Treasury £74 billion by 2045/46 compared with the previous proposal.
A two-year period between 2037 and 2039 will be used to phase in the change.
Official forecasts predict that the number of people over state pension age will grow by a third between now and 2042 — from 12.4 million to 16.9m.
The SNP have criticised the move and accused the UK Government and the Scottish Conservatives of waiting until after the General Election, and just before the summer recess got underway, to inform the public of the changes.
“With well over half a million Scots negatively affected by this change it reveals the vast scale of this worst form of Tory trickery,” said MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Sandra White.
“It is truly shameful that Theresa May and Ruth Davidson kept this under wraps until after the election — as this would have undoubtedly lost them seats.
“A great number of people in Scotland in their late 30s and 40s will already be planning for their retirement; the fact that they will be forced to wait another year for their state pension is a major blow.”
Scottish Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has claimed that the hike will disproportionately affect those north of the Border given the lower life expectancy in Scotland due to “historic and deeply-ingrained public health challenges”.
Responding to this claim, a spokesperson from the Department of Work and Pensions said: “A universal state pension age is the simplest way to help people plan ahead for retirement and it would be unfair to create an unnecessarily complex system that risked leaving some with an inadequate pension.
“A recent independent review conducted by John Cridland also found that there was no clear evidence to support a regional system.”
Labour have voiced their concerns of the change, with shadow pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams calling them “anything but fair”, while the TUC has warned it risks creating “second-class citizens”.
Meanwhile, the SNP have also proposed establishing an independent Savings and Pensions Commission to oversee and consider government pensions and savings policies, helping to ensure they are fit for purpose and meet people’s needs. Thoughts reiterated by the SNP Westminster spokesperson on pensions, Mhairi Black.
“Theresa May and her increasingly weak government must make clear what mitigating measures they will be using to address the severe impact this will have on over 550,000 affected people in Scotland,” she said.
“The SNP will continue to call for the establishment of an independent Savings and Pensions Commission to responsibly consider pension policies to ensure they are fit for purpose and take into account Scotland’s demographic needs.”
Last week in a Commons statement the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Gauke, said: “John Cridland looked at exactly those issues and concluded that the divergence within the regions and nations on this matter was greater than the divergence between them.
“However, if the Scottish Government believe that there should be more support from the state for those approaching retirement age, they will have the power to provide it.
“If they wish to provide that support in Scotland — effectively, providing support a year or two years earlier than in the rest of the United Kingdom — they have the power to do that.
“I would not particularly advise them to do it, but that is their decision, and I really do not think there is a complaint to be raised with the UK Government on that front.”
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