A fairer approach to pensions issue
WITH regard to the proposal that future pensioners would not be receiving their pensions until the age of 70, I think that a fairer way would be that everyone should have to put into the pension scheme for 50 years, then that way we would all pay the same. Those who start work at 16 would usually be those people who are in manual type work, where they could not possibly be expected to work until the age of 70. They then would have the option of retiring at 66. These would be the people that, as it is at present, would be paying the most into the system. I myself paid for a total of 51 years, which is 11 years more than the doctor, accountant, dentist, lawyer or bank manager, etc. etc., who went to university until the age of 24 or 25 then needed to take a year out because they had 'worked so hard' and deserved a holiday. This would sort them out. With my system we would all pay for the same number of years.
I know that you will be saying 'Ah, but these professionals pay more into the system because of their higher earnings,' but no they in fact pay less in comparison to their pay if they happen to earn more than something like £70,000 because that's the cut-off point, or thereabouts.
I, for one, and many of my age paid, into the system for a lot more years than so-called 'professionals' and they receive exactly the same pension as I do, so there is an anomaly there. It may be that's why the pension scheme isn't holding its own. If everyone paid for the same number of years, the scheme might hold its own. Those who do not begin their working life until the age of 25 would usually be in the sort of employment where they could work well into their 70s.
I rest my case.
M. J. BOURGAIZE,
Address withheld.
