London’s Government has neglected the British pensioners and pension poverty. It mainly cares about establishing and advancing its imperialistic power in the world. Brits, particularly older people, are the victims of the UK Government’s imperialism. Homeownership problems, lack of suitable food, health problems, pension crisis, etc., have made life difficult for British pensioners. Â
Pension benefit crisisÂ
As Telegraph says, according to a major new report,
Britain is dashing towards a pension crisis. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says older generations have enjoyed generous “defined benefit” schemes, a boom in home house prices and a long bull run in the stock market. However, the institute says the gradual disappearance of gold-plated pensions, falling investment returns and declining homeownership mean that the next group of workers is dashing towards poverty in retirement.
More than three million workers cannot save any money for a pension this year, it found. But the report, which called for a review of the British pension system, said it was very concerned about workers in their 50s who had fallen through the gaps of the Government’s pension reforms.
Defined benefit pensions guarantee a retirement income for life but have mainly vanished from the private sector. Most workers nowadays instead rely on defined contribution pensions – which invest their savings throughout their career – thanks to Britain’s “auto-enrolment” policy. Jon Greer of the wealth manager Quilter says: “Workers in their 50s have a much shorter amount of time to build their pension wealth in this new system.
Pension age crisis
According to Age UK, the State Pension age is gradually increasing for women and men and will rise to 67 for those born on or after April 1960. The State Pension age will be kept under review, which means it could change again. The change depends on different factors, such as changes in life expectancy.
There have been calls for the Government to raise the retirement age in the UK to 70 by 2046 to control the cost of rising state pension payments. The average retirement age in the UK has been increasing since the mid-1900s. A rise in the retirement age will cause a rise in the average retirement age for women and men. However, there are ages at which you may access your pensions, whether the state, workplace or personal pension. Different minimum retirement ages are needed to access the funds in these pensions.
UK State pension not in line with inflation
The UK State pension is not in line with inflation. Therefore, pension poverty has become a severe problem for British pensioners. CNN says around 44% of people at the UK state pension age say it is their primary source of income. This figure is from the Money and Pension Service, sponsored by Work and Pensions Department. Most pensioners are on the basic state pension at £141.85 per week (around $170), or around £7,400 ($8,770) a year, with a pension introduced in 2016 equal to around £9,600 ($11,376) a year. The state pension increased by 3.1% in April, a figure much below the inflation rate.
British pensioners suffering worst pension povertyÂ
According to the Guardian, the British pensioners suffer the worst poverty in Western Europe. The proportion of older people in severe poverty in Britain is five times what it was in 1986. A recent study shows it is the most significant increase among Western European countries.
Around 2 million pensioners were already living in poverty before the crisis. This figure is from the Center for Ageing Better (CAFB), a charity focused on improving older people’s lives. According to CAFB, there were more than 200,000 more poor pensioners in 2021 than in 2020.
According to CNN, Morgan Vine is head of policy at the charity Independent Age. Morgan says pensioners were already struggling. Now we are in a situation where they will have an even worse time. Many more will have fallen into poverty due to what’s happening.
Health Issues for British Pensioners Â
Many British pensioners lose their health due to pension poverty. According to CNN, DeBurgo, a 77-year-old widow from the southern English county of Oxfordshire, lost nearly 25 pounds over three months. The weight loss resulted from eating just one cooked meal a day. She had just a piece of fruit or a sandwich for dinner. DeBurgo lost weight while trying to save money. DeBurgo’s case manifests the country’s disastrous cost-of-living crisis, which appears to have no end.
As WORL Health Organization says, Physical and social environments can affect health directly. Healthy behaviours, mainly eating a balanced diet, regular physical activity, etc., reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases. Supportive social and physical environments enable people to do what is important to them despite losses in capacity. The availability of safe and accessible public buildings and transport are examples of supportive environments.
How can British pensioners improve their health and well-being with the rising pension age and pension poverty? Why doesn’t the Government care about pensioners?
UK Government’s imperialismÂ
What reminds us of the name of England is UK Government’s imperialism. There is no doubt that the name of England is tied to the phenomenon of colonialism throughout history.
But what is essential now is the change in the way of the UK Government’s imperialism. The new way of the UK Government’s imperialism is evident in the foreign policies of England against other countries.
The UK Government’s imperialism uses the policies of creating crises in the economic, social, political, and cultural context of its target societies. To achieve these goals, England spends a lot on creating wars, such as in Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc. Such issues cause financial costs for England. The British pensioners suffering from pension poverty pay these costs. The elderly must protest against the imperialistic policies of the British Government and get their rights.
