Retirement age may have to be increased
Wednesday 28th January 2009, 2:59PM GMT.
PLANS to raise the retirement age from 65 and require everyone to work longer are being discussed by ministers behind closed doors.
Draft papers circulating among States Members show that the thrust of the new Strategic Plan will be to cut back on spending, deal with an ageing society and ‘manage the expectations of the public’.
It is expected that if nothing is done, the States will be running at a £140m annual deficit by 2035, as more and more people retire and stop paying taxes, while needing more and more from social services, particularly in health spending and pensions.
Documents were distributed yesterday afternoon giving all Members an update on the ‘workshops’ held to knock initial plans into shape, but noting that it was important that it be ‘treated in confidence’.
dropping out of the workforce too soon.’
• Picture: The Social Security building, Philip Le Feuvre House, in La Motte Street
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hopefully they’ll at least balance the situation so that everyone of both genders retire at the same age (whatever that may be).. the current setup is just plain unfair – women live longer and retire earlier!!!
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Great – so we all have to work longer to support those who have never worked a day in their life… sooooo fair!!!
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Great I guess it will be 68 or 70 ? Do you want to retire at that age?
More than likely if you work for a company they would want you to leave before you are 65, better productively from a younger member of staff, and then on a reduced pension and then the States delay payment to you until you are 68/70 and then this would be less because you have not worked up to retirement age! O Yes you will also be taxed on the payments can’t imagine what the percentage rate in 2035 would be?
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Does that apply to civil servants?
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Given the present global economic situation it is rather silly to discuss a scenerio for 2035 when we have no idea in what state Jersey will be in a year’s time. There are more urgent matters to discuss by our government and they should shelve this subject for at least a year. Instead they should act now to stop the wasting of our hard earned case and get rid of some staff just like the private sector is doing
The “free for all” credit cards scam for civil servants is only one way our precious cash is dished out without any sort of control
Stop the waffle and get on with it
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no suprise here.
it must now be time to remove the unfair ceiling on contributions.
higher earners than myself pay the same.
it must of been looked into, but again shelved no doubt.
anyone want to post a more informed comment?
please.
i can see myself working till i drop.
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I think it’s about time the so called poor stopped relying on states handouts and thought about their future.
For instance, how much have you put aside this week for your retirement?
I’m not going to be working into my 60′s but I won’t be relying on the state to support me and I’m working and saving hard for it now.
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A state social security pension is a way of stopping you starving to death when you are too old to work. It is not a state sponsored holiday. If you want a comfortable retirement save for it yourself; everyone can afford this by giving up something during their working life if they need to, whether eating less or not going on holiday. As for raising social security contributions for higher earners; everyone is paying for the same pension, why should a high earner subsidise the low earner in retirement they do it through higher taxes anyway.
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Does anyone really want to work till 70 or 75? If they do they must be mad. Most people I know can’t wait to get out of work and have a life.
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At least the States are looking into it. I’m in my mid-thirties and assume that the pot will be empty by the time I retire.
Let’s hope the Help the Aged (aka steal from our own grandchildren) possee realise that they have had the best of it. Their legacy will be environmental catastrophe and debt, leaving their kids and grandchildren to work until they are 70.
The States should have raised taxes and cut spending in the mid-eighties. Our strategic fund should be five times more than it currently is. As it is, the windfall of financial services was never harvested when the crop was full.
Hopefully someone will have the sense to see that the future for Jersey is in keeping the population low and trying to lose low paid, unskilled jobs that disproportionately employ imported labour – growing potatoes, endless coffee shops, rubbish hotels, pick and packing jobs at Jersey Post – and concentrating on environmentally friendly, skilled jobs. It will be much easy to pay pensions if the numbers claiming them are lower.
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Remove the ceiling on contributions.
Some people retire very early the Police for example.
Remove the difference between men and women.
Would be a start
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Well are we not suppose to have a life…review your books correctly and stop spending on things that are not needed….remember we all need to live life not work life…
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It is about time the Social Security Dept woke up.
When other locations were considering increasing the pensionable age Jersey introduced the option for people to take an early pension at 63 rather than wait to 65. How much has that cost the SS fund. From a health point of view I feel that many people would benefit from working longer. Generally, the more people do the more they are able to do. From an equity point of view I would like to see the burden of Social Security contributions shared more evenly so that unearned income was included in the calculation to arrive at contributions due rather than just basing them on earned income. After all we should all get the same pension so why should the person that lives off of investment income of say £40,000 not pay the same contributions as someone that has to work to earn £40,000. I would not be in favour of removing the so called “unfair ceiling” on contributions as I think that it would increase the cost of employing staff for businesses and could easily lead to the relocation of finance companies to locations outside of Jersey which would inturn lead to unemployment in the Island and loss of tax revenues. Removing the contribution ceiling would also turn Social Security into an Income Tax and I thought that it was Jersey’s policy to keep Income Tax at the maximum rate of 20%.
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10 Mad Foetus- what you say about the low paid jobs is absolutely bang on correct.
Add to that madness the council house building boom whereby these low paid workers have got onto the benefits gravy train. Disaster.
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God blimey this is the most depressing piece of news ive read all week! We will all be having heart attacks at this rate oh what the future holds!
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Great to see our ministers displaying their usual imagination. Come to a obstacle in the road, put your head down and run at as a collective and hope the hurdle will go away.What we need is some recognition that we are thinking beings and not little boxes who drop of the end of the line when we are 60, 63, 65 or 70.
What we need is a progressive move into the third age. Reduced social security taxation to encourage employees and employers to work on. Incremental state pension, rising in stages with every year past 65. Oh, and scrap special deals for the OAPs, just pay them a decent pension in the first place; it would cut down of bureaucracy.
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Will Mr Jackson be devising plans for parking for zimmer frames and wheelchairs for the elderly working in town!
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Surely the States Members will lead by example then………
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pink panther maybe that is the plan why are we living longer when they keep telling us our lifestyles are shortening life span?stress us all out will ensure shorter lives,as everyone knows stress causes most illnesses
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what percentage of people will honestly be able to carry on working up untill the age of 70 years anyway i mean its so far fetched. I know there are a small minority of older people who are amazing for their age and who seem to want to continue working. I cant see that people will have any motivation to continue to want to work up untill that age.
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Extending working age? There won’t be any pension pot left by then anyway if you’re under 50 now. I’m expecting a new criminal class to be born, the angry pensioners!
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Is this really any surprise? For years the UK and other countries have been talking about the ageing population. I am only 27 but having been putting money in a life policy since I started work at 18, ready to feed into my pension which I set up at 25. I would be terrified of what the future would hold for me if I relied on the States, looking at the great job they do of everything else, therefore done the only sensible thing and relied on myself. As Hubert said we need to be putting money aside now, to support ourselves.
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Well we could sell the steam clock that should raise £1.50,the bronze cows £9.99 ono the chocolate tree £3.50 and for our French cousins!!!
Yes you guessed it! the crazy toad.
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I think that everyone should work until they are at least 70, some States Members work until they are far older so should we.
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Toria – the States have a responsibity to islanders who have paid health contributions not to mention tax all their working lives. Why should it also be necessary to pay into a private fund in order to safeguard our future?
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Maybe we won’t be living longer after retirement. Reports suggest that today’s children in the US & UK will be the first generation to die younger than their parents due to increased obesity.
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Ann because that’s life – the alternative is to compel everyone to pay much more to the states as the money has to come from somewhere. The states pension is a basic saftey net and most people view it as such. It has been clear for a long time that to have any quality of life in retirement here or in the UK you need to put aside extra from your own funds to supplement that.
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Makes me sick when I see headlines like this, then eery day on my way to work I see the alcoholic tramps loving life and living it up in Parade Gardens whilst we pay for their alcohol.
If the economy is in such a mess then how about we cut the handouts?
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There is quite a simple point to make here, which most people seem to miss.
Jersey is a very low-tax society that has (responsibly) milked financial services for revenue for decades.
Now the golden years are coming to an end. We either pay more taxes or accept a lower standard of living. Simple as that.
But instead, people seem to think they are entitled to pay the lowest personal taxes in Europe and get, in return, the most expensive (to provide) public services.
If you want a bigger pension and don’t want to pay for it privately, go campaigning for GST to be increased to the European levels of 15-20%. Otherwise, look after yourself or go and live elsewhere, and see how tax rates, public services and levels of public debt compare there.
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Al – many people thought that banks were a safety net and that has been proved wrong!
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Tobias – I’m with you on this one, frequently as I drive in to work I see the same destitute alcoholics and wistfully wonder what I could possibly do to swap places with them for their blissful existence of fresh air and special brew. Oh if only I could persuade them to give it up and change for my life, with the dull predictability of solid employment, the cloying constraints of my too-loving children, the care and attention of my wife. The worst bit is the central heating…don’t you just hate it?!
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Well if a hefty pot hadn’t been wasted by Social Security for free prescriptions, the deficit in the pension pot would be practically negliglble yet they are still determined to carry on with this folly even now when they don’t know which way to turn. Totally impractical.
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Mad Foetus and P.Lee – both totally wrong – the “low paid unskilled jobs” are mostly seasonal contracts and whilst those workers make a tax and SS contribution to cover them whilst they are here, they have no claim on the pension pot (being still ordinarily resident in their originating country).
And besides that just who do you think will pick the spuds for your tea or serve you a coffee in the local coffee shop – most Jersey locals think that type of work is beneath them, so if the low skilled, low paid don’t do it…who will…you?
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MICHAEL
If the states are serious then they should start with the states employees all should retire at 65 not 60 and more importantly the amount and the way their pension is calculated should also be changed. It is still based on final salary, with all overtime worked in the final year part of the calculation, pkus retirement after 30 years in Police and Fire service on a pension higher that most peoples salaries when they retire at 65. Surely in this day and age they should be working passed 50/55 give them a back office job or in the community, and all paid for by the general public whose pension at 65 will be far less than any civil servant even though they have only paid the same into their social security. Frank Walker said he was going to look into this but didn’t.
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Why don’t the States just make us all into slaves and be done with it. We have to slave away until we die or get thrown on the scrap heap to pay for the civil servants to have a water machine, spanky offices, and massive pensions – yes the states really have got their priorities right – the thieving snakes!
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pah,
you missed the point. agriculture, tourism and retail may be full of low paid jobs, but the workers have a habit of staying. Certainly the restaurants and coffee shops seem to have the same people in them. Lets get welfare Jersey to work there – tell people without children under school age in States accommodation that there’s no more house unless they learn to mix Martinis and lattes for their social betters.
And stop subsidising agriculture and tourism. Who benefits? The very lucky few who were born into families owning farms and hotels. Turn the fields into allotments for those who want them and lets see what hotels are needed and what could be private housing instead.
Keep Jersey green and use Jersey resources (i.e. the unworking underclass) to do the jobs that are currently filled by very hard working Europeans.
But lets start with a cold, rational look at what benefits the holy cows of agriculture and tourism bring to the Island. Not very much is my suggestion.
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mad foetus – if all hotels are turned into family homes and farms into allotments are you quite happy to have an island which then totally relies on the finance industry?
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ann
what I’d like to know is whether the tourism and agriculture industries contribute anything to the Island, or whether it is just a few hoteliers and farm owners who get rich while employing large numbers of underpaid foreign workers.
I’d like to see Jersey become a wholly organic Island and have all cars converted to gas or electricity and for us to become known as the most environmentally friendly and cleanest place in Europe. I’d prefer to see money going into that rather than the monoculture of intensively growing potatoes and paying farmers to create drinking water that breaches EU nitrate guidelines.
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