The Pension Service UK

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The Pension Service - UK

• Derek Coulthard
• DWP International Pension Centre
• derek.coulthard_at_dwp.gsi.gov.uk

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The Pension Service - UK

• Agenda
• Introduction
• The Open Method of Co-ordination
• Laeken Council - UK National Strategy Report
• Conclusions

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The Pension Service - UK

• The Open Method of Co-ordination
• An agreed general framework of objectives
• Member states report progress towards these
  objectives
• Member States share best practice

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The Pension Service - UK

• Laeken Council December 2001 stated that
• The adequacy of pensions, the sustainability and
  modernisation of pension systems and the
  improvement of access to occupational pension
  schemes are all of particular importance.

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The Pension Service - UK

• Laeken Council - UK National Strategy Report
• Adequacy
• Sustainability
• Modernisation
• 11 Objectives in total were set under these
  headings

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The Pension Service - UK

• First Point
• Pensions are Political!
• In the UK since 1997 there have been 8 separate
  reports each involving a public consultation
  exercise.

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The Pension Service - UK

• UK Pensions
• State Pensions Comprising a Basic Pension and
  an Earnings Related Pension. Based on the payment
  of National Insurance (NI) Contributions
• Occupational Pensions
• Private Pensions
• NB People in an occupational or private scheme
  may contract out of the State Earnings Related
  Pension and pay a lesser NI contribution.

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The Pension Service - UK

• UK Pensions
• Statistics
• 10.6 Million pensioners in 2002
• 15.7 Million in 2040
• 44 of people have an occupational or private
  pension
• Dependency ratio will rise from 29 to 41.5 over
  the same period.
• (2001 UK Census More people gt60 than lt16)

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The Pension Service - UK

• Adequacy of Pensions
• Objective 1 Ensure that older people are not
  placed at risk of poverty .and can participate
  actively in public, social and cultural life
• UK Economic indicators 1979 1997
• Earnings increased by 40 (real terms)
• Richest 20 of pensioners income increased 80
• Poorest 20 of pensioners income increased 30
  
• Poorest pensioners 80 of income from state.
  Richest pensioners 20 of income from state.

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The Pension Service - UK

• Adequacy of Pensions
• Objective 1 (continued)
• Introduction of Pension Credit
• Improved access to services
• Gateway to other services
• Transport, Housing, Care

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The Pension Service - UK

• Customer Service Standards
• Achieve a State Pension Accuracy Rate of 98
• Ensure 90 of telephone calls are answered by
• customer agents
• Ensure no more than 1 of telephone calls
• receive an engaged tone or message
• Answer all correspondence from customers
• within 10 days
• Clear 95 of State Pension claims in 60 days

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The Pension Service - UK

• Objective 2 Provide access for all
  individuals to appropriate pension arrangements
• State Pension Arrangements
• Occupational and Private Pensions
• Stakeholder Pensions
• Pension Forecasts
• Publicity/Education

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The Pension Service - UK

• Financial Sustainability
• Objective 4 Achieve a high level of employment
  ..
• UK Employment Action Plan
• Incentives to participate in the labour force up
  to pension age
• Encouraging people to stay in the labour market
  beyond pension age

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The Pension Service - UK

• Modernisation of pension systems
• Objective 9 Ensure pension systems are
  compatible with the requirements of flexibility
  and security in the labour market.
• Access to state, occupational and private
  schemes for people in non-standard employment
• Facilitation of labour mobility
• Including cross border mobility in the EU

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The Pension Service - UK

• Conclusions
• Member states face many varied challenges in the
  field of pension policy
• The open method of co-ordination provides a
  valuable framework within which national
  policies can be developed, and a means of
  tracking progress elsewhere
• Malta has a lot of work to do Good Luck!