Discussion of UK state pension affordability and the triple‑lock: mentions that the state pension is too low to be the only retirement income and that the triple‑lock remains justified; references Irish figures ("first generations of Irish pensioners that weren’t exported") and argues the Irish metric may be an artefact of using GDP.
Created 56 days ago • 22 documents • Range: 1/15 9:45am – 1/15 1:16pm
Scotland’s Budget raises ambition — but ducks the hard fiscal choices⚠️ 👶Eradicating child poverty isn’t cheap. 🌡️Climate action needs additional spend. 🏫Public services can’t improve on real-terms cuts. Read more in @stephenboydippr.bsky.social's blog here ⤵️ www.ippr.org/articles/pol...
Yes but with significant effort..going from <4% to about 7% is a lot of extra money to find, maybe €18bn p.a. in today's prices (much more by then), and thats state pension, doesn't include PS pens, auto enrolment, nor increasing health & social care costs etc. Eats into other (existing & new) areas
I can’t see any electorate voting to abolish SP. I‘d keep 3-lock until at least the median pensioner is getting enough to live decently from SP alone. Private provision for those folk would be much more costly - even if they had enough income to save from. Or we just leave them in poverty.
Yep, was wondering whether rich parents with financial sense would generally prepay. Lots of ways this could cost more. Student loan repayment is off taxable income, right? So suppress via £60k pension contributions, salary sacrifice.
Not only do working class students have repayments as millstones round their necks - our degrees our generally worth less. Contacts & background still matter more - Especially at university where there's a strange lack of working class academics despite the increase in undergrads this century
I (an American) attended a British university in the 90s when UK students didn’t have to deal with the kind of tuition I did back in the US, & to me, it looks like somehow, in the interim, they got you on the US system. This is pure US, including rationale for loans (you’ll earn it back in salary).
"UK state pension is affordable and the triple-lock still has work to do before it‘s turned off. The Irish figures are interesting. The effect of the first generations of Irish pensioners that weren’t exported."
The Irish figure is just an artefact of using GDP as the metric for the size of the economy.
"You shouldn't be asking why children are getting school lunches or Pensioners are getting pensions. You should be asking why in 2026 isn't almost everything free. It's because billionaires have to be trillionaires and when stuff gets cuts that is where the money goes."
The threat to the Freedom Pass appears to have been averted. As usual it had its roots in the Tory class war when government funding was cut, forcing local authorities to bear the cost.
Yes and I think the magnitude of the projected expenditure is under valued - that can’t be solved just by raising income tax by a few percent; even five percent! Between the NHS, social care & pensions, govt spending eats it all and some more
"UK state pension is affordable and the triple-lock still has work to do before it‘s turned off. The Irish figures are interesting. The effect of the first generations of Irish pensioners that weren’t exported."
UK triple lock is affordable for as long as everything else is suppressed to support it. But yes, it still has work to do because the state pension is too low to be the only source of retirement income.
Paying sufficient salary to get a qualifying year for state pension purposes There are various ways in which profits can be extracted from a personal or family company. https://www.accountingjournal.uk/p/paying-sufficient-salary-to-get-a
Dafuq is Luxembourg planning? More seriously, I would love a clear article on whether Italy is about to go bust or we could double the state pension. I get they just tax more than us too, but do they tax that much more? Assuming this isn't uniquely a pension disparity but other spending too.
chronic underinvestment, weak wage growth, & a housing system that allows rent extraction while the state refuses to act and build more capacity. If the economy cannot support its pensioners, it is not because pensioners exist It is because too much of the economy has been structured to serve wealth
We are just mimicking the failed US student loans policies that ended up with Biden paying billions to cancel debts. Why do we keep copying the US? Education shouldnt be about making quick money, its about making your ewhole country more intelligent and leading the way in sciences and the arts.
