There is significant public support for the national pension scheme, the latest YouGov SixthSense pensions report has found.
With an aging UK population and a prevailing culture of cuts in the corridors of power, now is a good time to gauge public support for the national pension. Proponents of the state retirement pension’s current format can point to significant popular support for the scheme:
- Only 9% of respondents in the report agreed that ‘the state retirement pension is a luxury we can no longer afford’.
- Unsurprisingly, levels of dissatisfaction are most prevalent amongst the young; 14% of respondents under 40 registered their hostility as opposed to only 3% of those over 55.
In the same report, aspects of the current scheme are deemed inequitable. The controversial measure whereby those in the 40% tax bracket receive twice the tax relief on their pension contributions as those in the 20% bracket is widely derided; two thirds of respondents said that this ‘discrimination in favour of the better off’ is unfair.
'Being bothered to save'
Respondents were also asked whether or not they agreed with the statement: ‘Pension Credits reward people who are not bothered to save’.The number of those who agreed was markedly skewed towards those in the more affluent social grouping (ABC1):
- 38% of the better off are wary of the current system of awarding pensions
- Only 29% of C2DEs found reason to suspect pension credits go to undeserving spendthrifts.
Despite apparent discord in some areas of the pension debate, there are topics that draw similar opinions from across the societal divide.
- 52% of respondents (with ABC1s and C2DEs equally represented) agree that pensions based on individual contributions are unfair to those who are not earning because they are caring for children, the elderly and/or the disabled.
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