Sandra Chapman: Pensions are coming into the spotlight. It’s time to pay attention

Millions out there did just that and are still paying. Where did all the money go? You might well ask.

An article by Daniel Hannan in the Daily Telegraph recently had a lot of detail going right back to the early days of the state pension , conceived in 1908 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer. Five shillings was the offering which would `lift the shadow of the workhouse from the homes of the poor’ he wrote. It would cost the Government £16 million a year. The lifespan for men in those days was 49 and 53 for women. The Labour Party didn’t like the idea at all.

We have many elderly today living well into their 90’s and beyond. People have to be in their upper 60’s now before they qualify for the pension a fact which annoys many people who feel they’ve worked long enough. Yet there are politicians with a growing belief that the state pension is no longer affordable.

I took in all of this information this week whilst reading Hannan’s article about how Ministers and officials recently `racked up almost £150million on government credit cards in a year’, the money spent on jollies for staff in a variety of departments. Those staff enjoyed `sparkling wine and uplifting branded merchandise’. One trip had been to the Caribbean.

The Labour Party is said to have accused the Conservatives of `acting like it was the last days of Rome’. The article gives an example where two prison service officials enjoyed a trip to the Carribbean in 2020 as the UK was locking down. A generous £225,000 `was spent on alcohol in 2021’ which, it is alleged, was mislabelled as other costs.

The Labour Party has been outraged with Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accusing the Prime Minister `of not reigning in this culture of lavish spending across Whitehall’.

Will the state pension live forever? The pension age will not stay at its current figure but is expected to rise again and could reach 70 by the 2030’s. When the French President Emmanuel Macron tried to increase the state pension age from 62 to 64 the country went on strike. The same could happen here.

There are many people who believe the government is handling the pension issue badly. People know of their extravagance. Does this lead to a sense of entitlement from the people? It is a truth that many people when they get to a certain age believe they are entitled to live off the state for the rest of their lives and who simply don’t want to work. The idea of having another private pension to which they contribute is of no interest.

Hannan and many others believe that Britain faces destitution `unless it dares to admit the state pension is unaffordable’. Yet the government doesn’t set the best example of fairness when public sector pensions are well above the pensions workers in the private sector contribute to.

What is the likelihood of the government reducing state pensions in order to make more people contribute to a private pension? How could they make it more attractive for people to save for their own pensions rather than depend on the state? We are a country in some financial trouble. Change is inevitable.

And it could come much sooner than we think.