Budget 2012: Changes to Pensions, Age Related Allowances, Royal Mail Pension Plan, State Retirement Age, Pension Infrastructure Platform

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP announced the 2012 Budget today, I thought I’d better write a blog post with the potted highlights, although obviously for more detail you can watch his long speech, check out what’s published on the Treasury’s website (and is the main source for what is […]

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP announced the 2012 Budget today, I thought I’d better write a blog post with the potted highlights, although obviously for more detail you can watch his long speech, check out what’s published on the Treasury’s website (and is the main source for what is below) or have a read through the extensive media coverage.

I’ll start with pensions.

Pensions

(a) as average lifespan increases the State Pension Age will go up and

(b) the State Pension will be reformed into a single tier pension for those not currently in receipt of a State Pension but not until the next Parliament (at least 2015).

The latter means such changes don’t affect those currently in receipt of a pension, or those receiving one before the changes come into effect.

Age Related Allowances change affecting those of pensionable age

These allowances affect income tax calculations for pensioners. This will be £10,500 and £10,600 for 2012-2013, with changes in future years from 2013 onwards.

A Pension Infrastructure Platform will be set up to allow pension funds to invest in UK infrastructure.

The Royal Mail Pension Plan is being transferred to the public sector, assuming the government gets approval.

There will be reform of public sector pensions and the age at which you can retire will be increased to bring it in line with increases in State Retirement Age. This and other reforms will have to be agreed with the public sector unions.

The deficit in the Royal Mail pension scheme will be addressed if the government gets State Aid approval. The government will (if they get approval) sell off the non-gilt assets of the pension scheme and take on board the liabilities.

Liberal Democrat Conference: 19th September 2011 Post Offices

I was listening to Ed Davey MP on Post Offices, some of the changes make sense. No one wants to see any more Post Offices close, but going from a “nationalised industry” to a “mutualised cooperative” is something I’m sure the unions won’t be happy with.

Taking nearby Hoylake Road Post Office as an example, there are three counters and usually two people working there. In addition there’s another person at a different counter that deals with anything you want to buy in the shop. Ed Davey said they’re trying out (through some pilot projects) everything being sold at the Post Office counter (which could cut costs making more Post Offices viable) whilst trialling self-service machines to cut down on queues.

Clearly queues is an issue that has been a greater problem since a several Post Offices in Birkenhead have been closed. Having used the Hoylake Road and Upton Road Post Offices in the last few months I think there’s only been one occasion when I didn’t have to queue.

I also remember the campaigns against Post Offices closures we ran a number of years ago. Paula Southwood campaigned in 2007 against the threatened post office closures in Spital and in Heswall. She put a lot of hard work into campaigning and getting petitions going.

In fact a year ago I tabled a question at the Liverpool conference in a session chaired by Lorely Burt MP about the future of the Post Office network. Hopefully any changes made will result in a better Post Office network and not the closures that happened under the previous Labour government.

I notice the next speaker after Ed Davey is also still taking up the Post Offices theme.