Support for Citizens' Pension
Public concerns and requirements could be addressed with the implementation of a citizens' pension, it has been claimed today.
11:41 23 September 2005
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Public concerns and requirements could be addressed with the implementation of a citizens' pension, it has been claimed today.
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) claims that public opinion chimes with its proposed citizens' pension, as shown by its latest research.
A poll conducted by MORI found that the majority of the public want a fairer pension provision for women and carers and that many people are opposed to the present system of subjecting pensioners to means-testing. The NAPF says that the citizens' pension complies with both of these requirements.
"The principle of a simple, adequate, first-tier state pension, available to all, has become the basis for a growing consensus among opinion formers in the pensions, political and academic arenas," said chief executive Christine Farnish.
More than three quarters of those polled said that women should receive the same pension as men, regardless of whether they had taken time out of the workforce to raise children.
Under the citizens' pension both men and women would receive 109 a week from the state, which would not be dependent on means-testing.
The NAPF says the citizens' pension would create a fairer, simpler pension scheme that could lift up to ten million old people off means-tested benefits, helping to reduce pensioner poverty.
However, critics claim that the citizens' pension will not be the solution to the country's pension crisis and fails to fully address the core issues of low levels of savings and poor pension provision.