One of the saddest reflections of the state of our planet at this current time is the growing phenomenon of elderly people committing suicide out of a forced compassion from not wanting to be a bother to their offspring and to the state. This problem is at its worst in Hong Kong and Japan as these parts of the world have the highest life expectancy. However, as more and more corners of the globe see a higher share of its population in the retirement age, the trend is only set to continue apace and become a wider problem.
There are not many issues that can be solved by simply throwing money at them but, nonetheless, there is little doubt that access to care, ability to heat your own home, buy food and even just have a roof over your head are all factors that affect older people more once they reach retirement age and these concerns are all largely wrapped up in the strikes and protests that we shall see today. The level of public pension is a difficult needle to thread as, if you pay too little, then you have poverty issues for a lot of vulnerable people but, if you pay too much, there is not enough money left over to run the country efficiently.
So, what’s the answer? Well, it’s not abundantly clear and you certainly won’t find it on here but, from what I have read, the unions are only bringing problems to the table, not potential solutions, and so I cannot find much sympathy for, let alone solidarity with, the strikers today. Ed Miliband is being criticised for not supporting the strikes given he leads the ‘Labour’ party; but in calling the strikes “a mistake” he is doing just that – leading, otherwise he would just be following a crowd because they happened to lean the same way politically.
A Labour leader with an understanding of but not in thrall to the unions is a good thing and long may it continue.
In terms of the problems of an ageing population in an unequal Britain, the answer as far as I am concerned is to implement much greater equality into the system across the public sector as a whole and try to ensure that the private sector will follow suit.
There seems to be a dogged belief across the UK that the public sector has to mimic the private sector in order to be at its most efficient and optimal. It has led to PFI, raids on long term pension schemes to aid day to day cashflow, privatisations of vital national services and many other ghastly monstrosities that should never have come to pass. Why should public sector works receive a lower pension just because private sector workers do? And why should there be such a wide disparity between the pensions of the lower paid public sector workers and the higher paid?
After x years of service, regardless of the job you have worked at, be it head of a local council or sweeping the streets, you should be awarded a pension that is equitable with anyone else in the public sector that has worked for the same period. A system where each public employee pays in, say, 8% of their salary and knows that when that golden age of 64, 65, 66 or whatever it is comes, they will get a pension that they can comfortably live on, well, it would solve a lot of today’s problems.
Yes, people would take out less than they have paid in and others would take out more; but that would be a price worth paying for a fair country where minimum standards are above the poverty line and each citizen is valued.
Why should fat cats who enjoy fat cat salaries also be rewarded with a fat cat pension? They have forty years to build up a big fat private pension with their annual salary if they so choose. When did the public decide that certain pensioners deserve more money to live on than their peers after they have finished work?
When we start treating all elderly citizens as equal human beings, rather than defective goods at the wrong end of life’s conveyor belt, maybe then we can start getting somewhere in terms of a better balance to our society. And maybe so many more of the wiser, tireder generation will look ahead with enthusiasm and joy to the rest of their lives, feeling like a valuable contributor to the UK rather than an unwanted hindrance on borrowed time.
#1 by Aidan Skinner on June 30, 2011 - 11:14 am
The strikes are happening not because the unions are unwilling to negotiate, but because the government isn’t. They are maintaining red lines on all the key issues, particularly regarding the refusal to carry out the (already late) legally required valuation of the teachers fund and the additional contributions which the government admits isn’t part of pension reform per se but is proposed in order to reduce the deficit.
Ed Miliband should be communicating this to people so that they understand the reasons behind the strike, not condemning it as a failure on both sides. Only one side is at fault here, and it’s not the unions.
#2 by haarandrime on June 30, 2011 - 8:07 pm
This is a very complex issue and one that is exercising my mind now and will do so into the future. At present I am in my late 50s and looking towards the last quarter of my life. I am in good health but there is no way I would want to suffer the indignities of late life and be a burden on my children. I may or may not succumb to dementia but I do not want that to be my fate. I feel that all the debates now surrounding the Dilnott Report should include the possibility of providing an assisted dying bill that will allow those that wish to to end their lives with dignity. If the ‘death tax’ of £35000 becomes a reality then I do resent paying it out of my estate if I have never had the need of a care home. I support the strikes as I have a deferred local government pension ( a very small amount) and if the retirement age is increased it is likely I will have to wait till I am 66 for my pension. I am already caught in the trap of the state pension increases.
#3 by Jeff on June 30, 2011 - 11:23 pm
Thanks for your thoughts haarandrime, I agree it’s a complex issue and I certainly agree about the resentment around a ‘death tax’. It’s such a clumsy solution to a problem that needs a wider solution. Given we are all getting richer, most believe in social mobility and many are amassing housing portfolios to pay for our pensions to make up for public sector pension shortfalls, I personally think a massive increase in inheritance tax would be a suitable way of financing a massive improvement in how the elderly are cared for.
Vince’s mansion tax wouldn’t go amiss either. The link between properties owned and low pensions/elderly care needs more examination I reckon.