Most workers 'will be worse off at retirement' under new universal state pension | Money | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/o ... te-pension

Nice.

I think this is the main point



So they will get the Pension of £155 (assuming that is what it is) just not any more which could have been earned under the old SERPS system - although that needed 40+ years of paying into to get near the maximum

and quite frankly if you have been working for 40 odd years why have you not also been paying into a private / company scheme

Maybe you couldn't afford to? The low paid are often barely keeping a roof over their head and their family fed, it's not as if everyone has £100's a month to chuck into a pension scheme. And even if they do (I do luckily) the returns are not all that great. Frankly looking at my yearly pension statement I think I could probably do a better job with the money myself.

The state pension is there to ensure everyone who has worked and contributed to the common good via taxes and NI gets to live a reasonable life in their retirement. Not a luxurious life necessarily - as you say, if you want luxury, save for it - but they shouldn't feel hungry or cold or afraid. That's one of the famous 'social contracts' that keeps us all working together and supposedly prospering together.

If we can't guarantee a decent lives for our children (note the rising levels of child poverty) and we can't guarantee decent lives for our elderly, what exactly the hell are we doing? And what are we paying those who supposedly run our society to do?

While I agree that there will be some people who cannot afford - a lot of people chose not to - back in my 20's when I started work I know some people who were the same age as me and would rather have the extra salary (for nights out / holidays etc) than pay towards a pension
This is why I support the compulsory enrolment