Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
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Low cost but acceptable incomes for older people: a minimum income standard for households aged 65-74 years in the UK; January 1999 prices
- Editor:
- PARKER Hermione
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- Publication year:
- 2000
- Pagination:
- 290p.,tables,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Bristol
Report aiming to: stimulate the debate about the incomes required by older people to avoid poverty; inform government decision making; and introduce readers to the method of calculating living costs called 'budget standards'. The study estimates the living costs, in January 1999, of men and women aged 65-74, at a living standard called 'low cost but acceptable (LCA), representing the poverty line. Budgets are presented for single women, single men and couples, as local authority tenants and as owner occupiers. The research is assisted by discussion groups composed of low income adults from the relevant age groups.
Pensioners' expenditure: an assessment of changes in living standards, 1979 - 1991
- Authors:
- SMEATON Deborah, HANCOCK Ruth
- Publisher:
- Age Concern Institute of Gerontology
- Publication year:
- 1995
- Pagination:
- 70p.,tables.
- Place of publication:
- London
Uses a detailed analysis of total household expenditure, its levels and distribution, to provide a comparison of living standards over time and between different social groups of older people.
Never had it so good? Boom time for older people
- Authors:
- HANTON Angus, EMERSON Liz
- Journal article citation:
- Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 16(1), 2015, pp.18-21.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: Increasing longevity, while welcome, has far-reaching implications for the social contract between generations. These include eye-watering costs for health and social care, intense pressure on the old-age dependency ratio, changing power relations in politics and voting, and increasing pressure on in-work families. In a period of austerity, policy makers have chosen to protect older generations’ benefits and paid for this by slashing benefits for the young, in spite of growing evidence that wealth distribution has changed with older generations becoming wealthier than once thought. The paper concludes that age alone can no longer be used as a proxy for need. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This discussion paper uses original quantitative research and analysis undertaken by the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) (www.if.org.uk) which includes Freedom of Information requests to government departments. It brings together the think tank's research into demographics, ageing, policy, government debt and liabilities, benefit reform and spending patterns in order to investigate the changing distribution of wealth across the generations. Findings: It is clear that with changing distributions of wealth that age alone can no longer be used as a proxy for need. While older generations are becoming wealthier younger generations are becoming increasingly burdened by debt, with poorer prospects and being asked to maintain the current status quo. Originality/value: The paper contains original research conducted by the IF (www.if.org.uk) into spending patterns across the generations and annual public sector pensions. (Publisher abstract)
21st century pension (in)security
- Author:
- CLARK Gordon
- Publisher:
- University of Oxford. Oxford Institute of Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 29p.
- Place of publication:
- Oxford
The influence of today's massive pension funds is being felt in every capital market in the world. Far from timidity institutional investors are using their influence to engage and in some cases aggressively challenge the management of corporations in which they invest in order to ensure long-term shareholder value for future beneficiaries. This corporate engagement reflects a power shift within the firm away from managers and toward shareholders and the institutional investors who represent them.
Modest but adequate - a reasonable living standard for people aged 65-74: summary and policy conclusion
- Author:
- AGE CONCERN
- Publisher:
- Age Concern
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 9p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This summary report argues that people need incentives and encouragement to save for their retirement but also need to have greater confidence that the systems will deliver. Reforms are needed to ensure that our pension systems are based on the following principles:clarity; fairness, adequacy, security and flexibility. The report outlines what it considers modest but adequate levels of income for retired single people and couples.
Modest but adequate: a reasonable living standard for households aged 65-74 years; April 2002
- Editor:
- PARKER Hermione
- Publisher:
- Age Concern
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 54p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This report argues that people need incentives and encouragement to save for their retirement but also need to have greater confidence that the systems will deliver. Reforms are needed to ensure that our pension systems are based on the following principles:clarity; fairness, adequacy, security and flexibility. The report outlines what it considers modest but adequate levels of income for retired single people and couples.
Trends and developments in old age pension and health care financing in Europe during the 1990s
- Author:
- NICKLESS Jason
- Publisher:
- Council of Europe
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 54p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Strasbourg
The social security financing of the member states of the Council of Europe faced a series of challenges during the 1990s, one of the most significant being the rapidly ageing of the population. This report focuses on the common solution to these challenges and concludes with a series of proposals relevant to health care and pension financing. These include improved efficiency, enhanced individual responsibility, increased competition and sustainability.
Is there a Dutch way to pension reform?:
- Authors:
- RIEL Bart van, HENERIJCK Anton, VISSER Jelle
- Publisher:
- University of Oxford. Institute of Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 32p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Oxford
In this paper the authors try to answer three related questions. First, what explains the lack of (parametric) pension reform in the Netherlands in recent years? Second, in the absence of significant pension reforms, what other avenues have Dutch policy makers pursued with regard to the robustness of the Dutch pension system in the face of ageing? Third, in conclusion, does the overall Dutch policy response really suffice in view of important labour market and demographic changes in the 21st century? While there may be no evident need to recast the design of the Dutch pension system, the authors do conjecture that Dutch pensions, because of their high aspiration levels, may come under increasing financial strain in the not too distant future.
A pension system in transition: private pensions as partial substitute to public pensions in Germany?
- Author:
- SCHMAEHL Winfried
- Publisher:
- University of Oxford. Oxford Institute of Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 57p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Oxford
This paper discusses a new strategy in German pension policy implemented in 2001 and looks at the main instruments and effects. The reform measures are based on a paradigm shift in pension policy, which will change the structure of the German pension scheme. Partial substitution of public pensions by subsidized private and occupational pensions is a core element. The paper outlines the structure of the pension scheme prior to the reform measures and the main objectives for the existing rules. Major arguments framing the public pension debate in Germany and important actors in the pension arena are identified. The instruments for reducing public pension expenditure (especially a new formula for adjusting benefits) as well as the subsidies to stimulate private and occupational pension arrangements are discussed. Employees are now confronted with complex and complicated decisions because of a great variety of possibilities of saving in subsidized forms. There is some doubt whether this will increase saving. The paper also focuses on a number of questions regarding income distribution related to the new strategy of partial substitution of public by private pensions as well as on the future development of the German pension scheme and on conflicts that may result from this strategy.
Constructing the public-private divide: historical perspectives and the politics of pension reform
- Author:
- WHITESIDE Noel
- Publisher:
- University of Oxford. Institute of Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 24p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Oxford
In contrast to many European countries, UK pension policy has long sought to preserve private pension provision, initially through the promotion of occupational pension schemes and more recently with the development of state-sponsored personal pensions. This paper examines the record theoretically, historically and comparatively. It argues first, that arguments favouring public choice as the basis for old age income security are inherently flawed because they fail to recognise the role played by convention and law in sustaining and developing common knowledge and confidence – the essential bases for economic action on which individual choice relies. As conventions of market activity vary by place, by product and over time, there is a constant need to define and refine their public legitimacy, without which the collective confidence necessary for economic action disappears. Second, the paper offers an historical account of how public-private pension ‘partnerships’ were first established in the UK in the 1960s. Contrary to what we might expect, Old Labour was more conscious of the importance of preserving established conventions governing occupational and private provision than their New Labour successors have been. Recent extensions in regulatory surveillance expose the contradictions that result when governments attempt to extend market solutions as a substitute for public services. Finally, contrasting UK experience of earnings-related schemes with their European counterparts, the paper shows how different conventions have shaped different roles for the state in earnings-related pension provision, resulting in varied typologies of public-private mix. Under recent demographic and fiscal pressure, previous divisions between public and private have become increasingly complex as governments move to regulate personal pension savings as a necessary supplement to statutory schemes. However, in contrast to careful collective negotiation found elsewhere, changing conventions imposed by recent British governments have shattered public confidence and provoked inaction. Future pensioner poverty appears very likely unless politicians first accept that private provision will never replace public pensions and (secondly) are prepared to negotiate a settlement that promotes collective confidence among all agencies and the whole population.