Income During Retirement

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Alice Taylor

Social Policy

Income During Retirement

This Paper will be looking in to income during retirement.  There is a broad range of aspects that relates to income during retirement these includes issues such as gender, demographics, pensions and insurance schemes, informal care and voluntary care.

All of these areas are relevant to income during retirement but the subject would seem over determined in relation to the word limit, and for this reason the paper will focus on state and non-state pensions.  Both forms of pensions will be discussed, analysed and compared in relation to each other.

Causal links between age and poverty have been found. (Alcock 1993).

“26% of pensioner couples and 35% of single pensioners in 1992-3 were defined at being at risk of poverty” Haralambos &Holborn 2000 :312

It would seem this could be a result of numerous reasons.  One main influential factor would be the significant reduction of income due to limited employment prospects.  This is due to a number of factors including old age being a cause of ill health, social stigma, and ageism e.g. age limit requirements on specific jobs etc GET REFERENCE.  Between 1971-1994 there was a decrease in older (age 55+ workers (Walker 2001).  This may be linked to loss of employment opportunities, the entitlement of benefits or the need for a break from work e.g. the luxuries of retirement.

The percentage of elderly in relation to the population is seen to be on the increase.  This is perceived to be a major contemporary issue as it has the potential to cause many social and economic problems throughout the United Kingdom. Through graph analysis of the Government Actuary’s mid 1994 based principle projections it has been predicted that the percentage of people aged 0-49 will decrease between present and 2040 where as the older generations (50+) are increasing in population (Walker 2002).  This is a result of people living longer and the birth rate decreasing (Mooney 2001).  The increase of modern technology and the advance of health care systems, welfare policies and economics all contribute to prolonging life expectancy.  

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In the 19th century state pensions were obtainable, they did not exist (Alcock 1993).  This may be because social policy in those days was not as financially supported, developed, researched and focused on as it is in the 21st century.  People did not live as long as they do today which also influenced this, as state pensions were in less demand.

The first introduction of state pensions into society was in 1908, when the National Pension Act was formed (Walker 2002).  In the post war reformation (1942), Beveridge (a civil servant of government throughout second world war) influenced through recommendations ...

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