Pension facts & figures - then & now
1908
·
Non-contributory pension
·
Payable to
men and women at 70
·
5 shillings a
week: represented between 20-25% of average earnings
·
Means-tested
and based on character
2008
·
Contributory
pension
·
Payable to
men and women at 65 in 2024 and rising to 68 by 2044
·
£90.70
a week: represents around 15% of average earnings
·
Pension not
means-tested, but means-testing still exists for those who need
additional income
·
One in five
of today's 11m pensioners live below the official poverty line,
the
vast
majority of them women. In 1891, 1.3m people were classed as
paupers – of which 31% were over 60-years-old
·
The
government has said it will restore the link between pensions
and earnings in 2012, but by that time 3m of today's pensioners
will have died
·
Today's state
pension of £90.70 a week from April 2008 is widely regarded as
the least adequate in Europe
·
The National
Insurance Fund currently has a surplus of £38.4bn, which is
forecast to grow to £72bn by 2012. This money is primarily
intended to pay for state pensions, but today’s pensioners are
being denied a higher pension because the government is using
the money to fund other expenditure
