This paper outlines the Government's new plans for the timing of the increase in state pension age to 66. The Pensions Act 2007 legislated for the state pension age to increase for both men and women to 66 by 2026, to 67 by 2036, and to 68 by 2046. But subsequent gains in average life expectancy have outpaced the projections on which that timetable was based. Official projections for life expectancy for those reaching 65 in 2026 have increased by 1.5 years for men and 1.6 years for women. The cost implications for maintaining the state pension are serious. The increased life expectancy means that, just for those reaching state pension age this year, the costs would increase by £6.5 billion over the lifetime of that cohort. Women's state pension age is currently rising from 60 to be equalised with men's at 65 by 2020. To enable an increase to 66, this timetable will be adjusted so that equalisation is reached in November 2018. The increase to 66 will then occur between December 2018 and April 2020 for both men and women. The increase will be phased in at a rate of three months' increase in state pension age every four months. This means that 4.9 million people will have their state pension age revised, of which 4.4 million will have an increase of a year or less. It will result in £30.4 billion of savings between 2016/17 and 2025/26, which would otherwise have to be met by the working-age population.

In this document the Government is looking at options for delivering a simpler and fairer state pension which rewards those who save for their retirement and is sustainable for future generations. The consultation is on two broad options for reform of the state pension, and the most appropriate mechanism for determining future changes to state pension age. The four guiding principles for pension reform are: personal responsibility; fairness; simplicity; affordability and sustainability. The options for reform of the state pension are: (1) faster flat rate or (2) a single tier pension. Currently the basic state pension is a flat-rate payment of £97.65 a week and the state second pension is partly flat rate and partly linked to earnings, such that higher earners receive a higher state pension. Option 1 would accelerate reforms so that the state second pension becomes fully flat rate by 2020 instead of the early 2030s. At the end of the transition those with a full contribution record - about 30 years - would receive the full pension, in two tiers, currently estimated at about £140 a week. Option 2 is a more radical approach, combining the two existing pensions into one single-tier pension. Future pensioners with at least 30 qualifying years would receive the same flat-rate pension currently estimated at £140 a week. This payment would be set above the basic level of support provided by Pension Credit. There are also two options for changing state pension age: through a formula linked to life expectancy; through a regular review.

This paper outlines the Government's detailed proposition for state pension reform. It follows a consultation on the proposals set out in "A state pension of the 21st century" (2011, Cm. 8053, ISBN 9780101805322). There was consensus that the state pension system needed to be simplified and the aim is to merge the state second pension with the basic state pension, to create one flat-rate payment. The new flat-rate state pension will start in April 2017 at the earliest. The weekly payment will be £144, plus inflation rises between now and 2017. Chapters in this paper cover: the context for reform; the single-tier pension; managing the end of contracting-out; the transition to the single-tier pension; sustainability and assumptions; longer-term sustainability - state pension age. Annexes provide: a brief history of the state pension; faster flat rating - assessment against principles for reform; features of the single-tier pension and specific transitional arrangements; an example pension statement; proposed timetable for implementing the increase in state pension age to 67.

This study finds that pension reforms in recent years have improved the efficiency and sustainability of pension systems in the new member states of the European Union and Croatia. However, for many countries, these probably have not gone far enough to ensure long-term sustainability, given the aging of the population. Reforms have included changes to Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) systems, including increases in retirement ages (not at least for women), new benefit formulas, and new indexation mechanism. Some countries (Latvia and Poland) have further strengthened the link of contributions and benefits to the sustainability of the PAYG system through the introduction of national defined contribution accounts. The link is strengthened also by moving to a point system, which has been adopted by many of the countries. Several countries have introduced a second, private, pension pillar, funded through diversion of part of the pension contributions, thereby diversifying risk. However, some countries (in particular the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Romania) will need to do more to safeguard the long-term viability of their pension systems, while others face challenges to ensure equitable pension systems and adequate living standards for all elderly people.

The consultation documents published as Cm. 8053 (ISBN 9780101813129)

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. This thought-provoking book provides a detailed exploration of work–life balance, considering the perspectives of specific groups such as parents, academics, the self-employed, and migrants. Moreover, it sheds more light on the dynamics of self-care, childcare as well as informal care. Collaborative and interdisciplinary in its approach, featuring researchers ranging from quantitative to interpretative scholars, it highlights the importance of a sustainable work–life balance and the instruments needed to improve this.

The Pensions Act 2011 amends the timetable for increasing the state pension age to 66. Under the Pensions Act (PA) 2007, the increase to 66 was due to take effect between 2024 and 2026. This Act will bring forward the increase so that state pension age for both men and women will begin rising from 65 in December 2018 to reach 66 by October 2020. As a result of bringing forward the increase to 66, the timetable contained in the PA 1995 for equalising women's state pension age with men's at 65 by April 2020 will be accelerated, so that women's state pension age reaches 65 by November 2018. The Act introduces amendments to primary legislation to amend the regulatory framework for the duty on employers to automatically enrol eligible workers into a qualifying pension scheme and to contribute to the scheme. These measures implement recommendations from the Making Automatic Enrolment Work review (Cm. 7954, ISBN 9780101795425). The Act amends existing legislation that provides for revaluation or indexation of occupational pensions and payments by the Pension Protection Fund. This Act also contains a number of measures to correct particular references in the existing body of pensions-related legislation and other small and technical measures to both state and private pension legislation. The Act is in six parts. The amendments made by the Act generally extend to England and Wales and to Scotland.

Most advanced democracies are currently experiencing accelerated population ageing, which fundamentally changes not just their demographic composition; it can also be expected to have far-reaching political and policy consequences. This volume brings together an expert set of scholars from Europe and North America to investigate generational politics and public policies within an approach explicitly focusing on comparative political science. This theoretically unified text examines changing electoral policy demands due to demographic ageing, and features analysis of USA, UK, Japan, Germany, Italy and all major EU countries. As the first sustained political science analysis of population ageing, this monograph examines both sides of the debate. It examines the actions of the state against the interests of a growing elderly voting bloc to safeguard fiscal viability, and looks at highly-topical responses such as pension cuts and increasing retirement age. It also examines the rise of ‘grey parties’, and asks what, if anything, makes such pensioner parties persist over time, in the first ever analysis of the emergence of pensioner parties in Europe. Ageing Populations in Post-Industrial Democracies will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, and to those studying electoral and social policy reform. Official publication date 1st January 2012.

National pension systems face a range of tough social and economic demands and pressures. These are complex to navigate, especially in a twenty-first century world that has ushered in global uncertainty and pressing challenges - even threatening the planet’s very sustainability – with implications for pensions that policymakers, financial services providers and individuals themselves must address. This book probes, and unpacks, what pension systems aim to achieve, the uncertainties they face and how they are attempting to resolve them. Analysing pension provision from the systemic, political-economy and individual perspectives, it sets out and contextualises commonalities and differences in pension systems across the globe, looking at current developments in both public and private pension provision, structures and regulation. Moreover, the reader is encouraged to question how national pension systems can best serve their populations and ensure the ‘sustainability’ of later-life incomes in the light of today’s global pension challenges. Global Pension Challenges: Pensions, Saving and Retirement in the Twenty‐First Century is an essential read for business, finance and social-policy academics and students, those working in the pensions industry and in the areas of welfare reform and advocacy, as well as the general public wishing to know more about the retirement issues we will all face in the coming years.