A new book examined pensions reforms measures in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the United States of America. It said that, despite differences in the pensions systems, similar measures had been taken to encourage or impose delayed take-up of state pensions, and it explored the underlying policy rationale and aims, and whether they addressed the same problem.
Source: Catherine Blair, Securing Pension Provision: The challenge of reforming the age of entitlement, Palgrave Pivot
Links: Summary
Date: 2014-Aug
A report said that cuts in welfare spending in the United Kingdom were affecting people in work more than those on benefits, that pensioners were also affected by a substantial proportion of cuts, and that the introduction of universal credit would not improve the overall impact on working families.
Source: Benefit Cuts by Household Type: Who has been hit by the government's benefits cuts?, Trades Union Congress
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2014-Aug
A report examined how the level of undersaving for retirement might change under various policy and economic scenarios. The report examined the existing situation, and the estimated undersaving changes under five themes: higher labour market participation among people aged between 50 and state pension age; opt-out rates from automatic enrolment into workplace pension schemes; the level at which people contributed to private pension saving; the way in which the new state pension would be uprated each year; and the starting rate of the new state pension.
Source: Scenario Analysis of Future Pension Incomes, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | DWP press release
Date: 2014-Aug
A report examined the financial resilience of people who recently retired to economic, health, and lifestyle 'shocks'. It considered three scenarios during the early years of retirement in terms of their impact on retirement incomes and spending needs: a period of unexpectedly high inflation; the onset of a moderate severity disability or health issue; and the early death of a partner.
Source: Melissa Echalier, John Adams, and Mel Duffield, The Financial Resilience of the Recently Retired, Pensions Policy Institute
Links: Report
Date: 2014-Jun
A paper examined to what extent differences in employment rates among people in better and worse health in the United Kingdom could be explained by the availability of publicly-funded disability benefits and by retirement income schemes.
Source: James Banks, Carl Emmerson, and Gemma Tetlow, Effect of Pensions and Disability Benefits on Retirement in the UK, Working Paper 19907, National Bureau of Economic Research
Links: Paper
Date: 2014-Mar
A report examined financial well-being among older people in the United Kingdom. Noting a wide diversity among the age group, it discussed patterns of spending, mortgage and other borrowing, wealth, and the relationships between financial well-being and quality of life in older age.
Source: Financial Wellbeing in Later Life Evidence and Policy, International Longevity Centre – UK
Links: Report | ILC press release
Date: 2014-Mar
An article examined the effect of proposed reforms involving the withdrawal of attendance allowance and disability living allowance. Despite the fact that the allowances were not means-tested, withdrawal would affect mainly low-income people, whose losses could be mitigated if the severe disability premium were retained at its existing or a higher level. The article also said that the use of inappropriate income definitions in official reports had overstated recipients' capacity to absorb the loss of these benefits.
Source: Ruth Hancock and Stephen Pudney, 'Assessing the distributional impact of reforms to disability benefits for older people in the UK: implications of alternative measures of income and disability costs', Ageing and Society, Volume 34 Issue 2 publication
Links: Abstract
Date: 2014-Feb
A report examined the question of who saved for retirement in the United Kingdom, reporting trends in pension participation before the 2012 reforms, the nature and prevalence of eligible non-savers, and transitions into and out of pensions.
Source: Mark Bryan and James Lloyd, Who Saves for Retirement? 2: Eligible non-savers, Institute for Social & Economic Research/Strategic Society Centre
Links: Report
Date: 2014-Jan
A think-tank report examined the anticipated future demands on pensions in the United Kingdom. It said that the existing state pension system incentivized early retirement, while employment protection legislation led to increased unemployment rates in older years. The report made ten policy recommendations to ease future demands on the state pension system, including: accelerating the increase in retirement age, linking it to life expectancy; exempting older workers from employment protections and age discrimination laws; encouraging savings, and considering compulsory private pension schemes; and changing disability and unemployment benefits schemes.
Source: Gabriel Sahlgren, Income from Work: The fourth pillar of income provision in old age, Discussion Paper 52, Institute of Economic Affairs
Links: Report | Summary | IEA press release
Date: 2014-Jan
A think-tank report examined pensions policy in the United Kingdom. It said that 11 million people were at risk of entering 'pensioner poverty' on retirement. The report recommended that the government should make saving mandatory by removing the opt-out in the existing auto-enrolment scheme, and by increasing individual contributions to pensions as incomes rose over time. It also discussed choice in the annuities market, recommending that the government should issue annuities bonds.
Source: James Barty, Help to Save: Defusing the pensions time bomb, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2014-Jan
