How the age pension pension has been hit by the EU referendum
- October 1, 2021
Pensioners in the UK are set to be offered a choice on whether they want to stay on with the current system or leave and be forced to start the process of taking the pension.
A new survey has found that over half of pensioners would prefer to continue with the old system and the UK Government has said it is looking at the issue again.
The poll, commissioned by the UK Pension Foundation, showed that 65% of pensioner respondents wanted the pension to continue in the same condition it was at before the EU vote.
But just over half (54%) of respondents in the survey said they were willing to take the pension buyouts, which were introduced by the then government in 2013.
The Government said the pension system was not under any immediate threat from the EU and that it is considering all options.
The survey also found that the UK was the only European country where pensioners were less likely to have pensions funded through pension buy-outs.
Only 31% of British pensioners are still in the current pension system and almost a third of pensioned men and women are in the pensions buy-out scheme.
However, the Government has been forced to intervene in the process by announcing the introduction of a new scheme which would see pensioners eligible for buyouts in the early 2020s, and would be funded by a new “fairer” pension.
In addition, the UK would be able to transfer the money from the pension fund to the rest of the UK as a single payment for all workers.
In a statement, the Department of Work and Pensions said it had not ruled out the option of the pensions fund being used to fund a buy-up of the whole pension system, but the decision was still being worked on.
