Your pension WILL be paid on time and in full
Bob Doris MSP on pensions in an independent Scotland:
“With elderly parents myself, I know very well many of the concerns older citizens wish to have addressed as they weigh up the options in this referendum.
I have found it relatively straightforward to reassure older voters when chatting about the referendum.
Most that I speak to wish to vote Yes in order to benefit their children and grandchildren.
However it is also important pensioners know exactly how independence will benefit them. Unfortunately there appears to have been much scaremongering by the No campaign on pensions. To be clear therefore pensioners WILL get their state pension on time and in full after independence.
We know that because the UK Department of Work and Pensions have confirmed this. I quote from DWP: ‘If Scotland does become independent, this will have no effect on your state pension - you will continue to receive it just as you do at present’.
Indeed the new single tier pension will be £160 a week upon independence in 2016 - that’s MORE than the UK Government are offering.
As part of a Triple Lock Guarantee the Scottish Government will ensure pensions increase by at least 2.5 per cent each and every year after that.
It is important that low income pensioners are protected also. That is why an Independent Scottish Government will not implement Tory plans to abolish savings credits - worth £18 a week to the poorest pensioners. If there is a No vote 9000 of these poorest pensioners will be worse off.
Scotland already has the people and the infrastructure in place for delivering public sector pensions, with the pension centres in Motherwell and Dundee administering state pensions, together with local government schemes such as Strathclyde Pension Fund covering pensions of public sector employees.
Pensions are also of interest to the next generation of older citizens - myself included.
Under current UK plans the pension age will rise to 66 by 2020. The UK Government plan to go further. By 2026 those in the UK will need to wait until 67 to pick up a pension. That will impact on everyone living in Scotland under 55.
One of the great challenges we face as a nation is trying to improve Scotland’s poor life expectancy levels. However in the short term, ironically, this makes pensions more affordable than elsewhere in the UK.
Many Scots face the prospect of paying into a pension pot they never collect from - or if they do so, only for a few years. That’s just not right. That is why after independence the Scottish Government will ask pensions experts to look at keeping the retirement age below 67.
Many people have occupational pensions via past employments. These too are secure - work pensions are contractual arrangements older people are legally entitled to. Others will be paying into public sector pensions and the Scottish Government has confirmed it will meet all public sector pension obligations and all schemes will be fully protected.
Indeed the Scottish Public Pensions Agency already does much of this work. These commitments are easily affordable as Scotland currently pays for pensions; given Scotland in relative terms puts more into the UK than is returned (£8.3b in last five years), and Scotland’s outlay on ‘social protection’ (that’s all pensions and benefits) is just 15.5 per cent of our wealth compared to 16 per cent for the UK.
However it does need political will. With both the NHS and Scotland’s funding being lined up for huge cuts by the UK if there’s a No vote, it is becoming increasingly clear that only a Yes vote will provide the protections that pensioners should expect from society and the opportunity to create a better Scotland for future generations.”