SOME day, in a few decades time, as UK Government rules currently stand, I will get a state pension. In actual fact, unless the rules change, I will be eligible for my state pension on my 68th birthday in August 2054.
In truth, people across every sector of the workplace are required to work for longer. We are well aware of the tireless campaigning by WASPI women who continue to campaign against pension inequality.
When the state pension was introduced in 1948, a 65-year-old could expect to spend 13.5 years receiving it – around 23 per cent of their adult life. This has been increasing ever since. In 2017, a 65-year-old can now expect to live for another 22.8 years, or 33.6 per cent of their adult life. By the UK Government’s calculations someone who retires today can expect to live until they’re nearly 88 years of age.
I live in Inverclyde in the west of Scotland. I’m proud to call it home. However, for too many of the people I represent they simply don’t live as long and healthy a life as they have the potential to achieve.
The latest study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published in April 2014 shows that Inverclyde is second worst in the UK for life expectancy. The average life expectancy at birth in 2010-12 for men in Inverclyde was 73.7 years and 79.9 for women.
It means the area’s male population has the second worst outlook in the UK — just behind Glasgow on 72.6 years — with women faring only slightly better at 397th out of all 404 local authorities across the UK. The Scottish average is 76.6 years for males and 80.83 years for females.
For the friends I have grown up with this means that after 50 years of contribution to society we can hope for a state pension for around five and a half years – nearly 15 years fewer than the UK Government tells us we’ll get. Can we have our money back please?
A one size fits all system does not work, the UK State pension scheme is broken, I believe with independence we can fix it. Truly, one of the worst feelings many of us will have is when we hear of a former colleague having passed away within only a few years of retirement.
The people of this country deserve better. There is a fairer way. The challenges though are real. Scotland’s population is ageing.
Over the next 25 years the number of people over 75 in Scotland will increase by 80 per cent. That’s a good thing, but it also means there will be more demand on our NHS, with fewer people in work to support public services and pensions through taxes.This is of course is exacerbated by the UK Government’s Brexit at any cost approach to jobs, our economy and indeed migration.
The Scottish Government’s Brexit plan sets out why a different approach is needed, how the UK Government can address the challenges Scotland faces now, and how we can get on with building an immigration system that works for Scotland.It is clear Scotland needs a tailored approach to migration, one made in Scotland and that is accountable to the people who live here – a plan that will help us sustain a population that can protect public services and one works for the future needs of our pensioner population.
We are already proving – as we take control of 11 benefits previously held by the UK Government – that when it comes to the entitlements, Scotland is taking forward a fundamentally different approach to that of the Westminster government.
A Scottish Government with the levers to set pension policy and the control over employment legislation to make big business pay a fair share towards a final salary pension for workers will create a more prosperous Scotland for us all.
By providing workers the financial security to retire at a fairer age, we can increase productivity, grow our economy and create jobs for Scotland’s young people. Creating a fairer Scotland is the driving force of why many of us believe in an independent Scotland. A better pension offer should be at the heart of that case, to improve the lives of our current generation of pensioners and the generations to come.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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