PENSIONS - UK less badly off than Continent-perhaps.
This
article from the eurofacts journal of the 28th January
2005. -Vol 10 No 8.
A
detailed report* by the Pensions Commission on the long- term future of the
British pension system highlights the UK’s apparent relatively comfortable
position compared to the main Continental countries.
The
report says that “ The UK system overall (public and private combined)
probably transfers a percentage of GDP [to pensioners] some what similar
to that transferred by other systems which have a larger public pension element
and where the demography is similar”
The difference between the UK and the big Continental
countries is that private pension provision in the UK is much greater, as Table
1 shows.
Table 1:
Size of Total Investments of Autonomous Pension Funds as
Percentage of GDP:
2001
GERMANY
3.3
NETHERLANDS 105.1
SWITZERLAND 113.5
UK
66.4
USA 63.0
Source: OECD
Global Pension Statistics
Project
Data on France and Italy are not shown, but are similar to
that for Germany. The UK data is
perhaps better than it looks, since it is for self-administered pension funds
only and excludes pension policies held via insurance companies. The other point to note in Table 1 is that
the UK pension policies hold over 70 per cent of their assets in equities compared
to less than 10 per cent for Germany and Italy, 26 per cent for the Netherlands
and 14 per cent for Switzerland.
Table
2 - Shows
Public Pension Expenditure as a percentage of GDP-in other words, what the
different governments have to pay to pensioners out of taxes and national
insurance contributions-the so called Pay-As-You-Go burden.
It
should be noted that in Table 2 the UK figures are most probably understated
(In
other words they appear to be better than they actually are), since they
exclude pensions to former public sector employees.
Table 2:
Public Pension Expenditure
As a Percentage of GDP
Country/Region 2000
2030
EU-15 10.4 13.0
France 12.1 16.0
Germany 11.8 15.5
Italy 13.8 15.7
Spain 9.4 12.6
UK 5.5 5.2
Source: EU
Economic Policy
Committee (2001)
The
Pensions Commission is a Quango set up by the Government in
2002 “to keep under review the adequacy of private pension saving in the
UK and to advise on appropriate policy changes…”
Its Chairman is Adair Turner, a favourite Downing Street “adviser”. Its report is voluminous and highly
detailed. Pensions are a notoriously complicated subject, and as can be seen
from the “health warnings” referred to above the statistics are badly
flawed.
It
is worth pointing out as well that the Pensions Commission cannot be
regarded as ‘independent’; that an election is coming up, and that
punches may be pulled, as they are in many other areas of government [For
example the selective release of information from past files - instead of the
full release expected under the Freedom of Information Act in 2005]
Nevertheless,
this report is a useful source of data on a difficult-and crucial-policy area.
*Pensions: Challenges and Choices
www.pensionscommission.org.uk
* * *
eurofacts-28th Jan
2005
BRITAIN’S
CONTRIBUTION
TO EU BUDGET SOARS
According
to the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report issued in Dec 2004* the UK’s net contributions to the EU Budget
over the next few years will be as follows:-
2004/5 2005/6 2006/7 2007/8
£bn
2.6 3.6
4.8 5.1
2,600mil
3,600mil 4,800mil
5,100mil
That’s
an average increase of 25 per cent per year between the current UK financial
year and 2007/8, representing almost a doubling of the figure in three
years.
Not
that Gordon exactly shouted this imprudent increase from the rooftops; it can
be found in footnote 4 to “Table
B16: Total Managed Expenditure” on page
216 of the 258-page report
*Cm 6408,HM Treasury,www.hm-treasury.co.uk
[Fonts
altered-bolding and underlining used-comments in brackets]
FEB/05
*
www.eutruth.org.uk
*
www.thewestminsternews.co.uk
*
www.speakout.co.uk
*
Daniel Hannan - Forming an OPPOSITION to the EU
www.telegraph.co.uk.blogs
*
VOTE
MAY -2007
TO
LEAVE
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION
WITH THE ONLY PARTY WITH A MANDATE
TO SET YOU
FREE
THE
UK
INDEPENDENCE PARTY
www.ukip.org
TO RECLAIM YOUR DEMOCRACY DON'T VOTE FOR THE
TRIPARTITE PARTIES IN WESTMINSTER
BUT
SMALL PARTIES THAT SPEAK THEIR MINDS
WITHOUT SPIN AND LIES.
*
ONLY
PRO-PORTIONAL
REPRESENTATION
WILL
BRING
DEMOCRACY
BACK
TO
THE
ENGLISH
PEOPLE
*
Home Rule for Scotland
WHY NOT
HOME RULE for
ENGLAND
*
MAY/07
[All underlined words have a separate
bulletin
THE QUESTION THAT THE VOTER MUST ANSWER
‘DO YOU WISH TO BE GOVERNED BY YOUR OWN PEOPLE, LAW AND CUSTOM OR BY
THE CORRUPT ,EXPENSIVE UNACCOUNTABLE AND ALIEN BUSYBODY BRUSSELS’
-SIMPLE IS IT NOT?
*
