Private Pensions for All (Paperback)

It is, argue the authors of this book, the right of all citizens to enjoy a reasonable income in retirement. Although demographic change will make the universal provision of such a state pension financially impossible, the authors propose that, if the Left were to abandon its inate hostility to private pension provision, the circle could be squared. The authors suggest that the role of the state should be to design a legal framework to achieve the objective of universal private pension provision and thus to legislate for the provision of a Guaranteed Minimum Pension. Their main proposals include: a duty on all employers to pay a pension contribution of 6% of gross salary into a private pension; a duty on all employees to pay a pension contribution of 4% of gross salary; a duty on the state to make up the contributions of those who are not employees; phasing in a Guaranteed Minimum Pension at least 20% above the current state pension; phasing in a levy on recipients of the GMP who receive more than 9,000 pounds per annum from their private pension scheme.