Will society be able to fully satisfy their needs for decent monetary support – as a reward for past labors, provide them with affordable housing and medical care, warm their souls with attention to the specific needs of this, in its own way, tender age? There are many doubts, which does not prevent preparing for harsh times when the ratio of workers (and therefore taxpayers) to dependents will irreversibly change not in the former's favor.
In Britain, the traditions of state care for the elderly, which in the opinion of a number of thinkers is the most important indicator of civilization and democracy, were finalized in the so-called Beveridge Report, dated to the late 1940s. Beveridge himself seems to have been imbued with ideas of higher humanitarian justice and possibly copied the experience of a country of 'victorious socialism,' since he advocated state guardianship over fellow citizens 'from the cradle to the grave.' Among the six principles he declared, besides others, were 'comprehensiveness,' 'flat rate of benefits,' and 'unified centralized administration' of the entire social security system.
Subsequent practice showed that the scheme proposed by Beveridge had inherent flaws. Money for everything – from index-linked pensions to utility benefits, or when receiving insurance, or at the funeral of a childless distant relative, and so on – was chronically insufficient. Departments, each engaged in its own charitable care, followed their own rules and instructions, did not coordinate their actions, which created confusion and disorder. Nevertheless, to this day, what is known as the 'national social security system' manages the distribution of more than half of all funds for assistance to vulnerable social groups. The main addition to it were the supplement schemes developed later, based on the level of income and wealth of a particular citizen and household.
What does this mean in practice? In addition to the basic pension paid from the treasury (equal to £79.60 per week), various additional payments are made, for example the 'guaranteed credit' and the 'savings credit.' In the first case, you can end up receiving £105 if you are a single pensioner, or £160 if you are married. In the second case, there is a condition – you must be over 65, and your spouse must be at least 60. Depending on marital status, £15 or £20 are added to the basic pension respectively. Both supplements can be combined, but the competent authorities will make a decision only after scrupulously recalculating all your income. And if they find that you have set aside more than six thousand pounds for a rainy day, they will hardly consider you to be in great need.
If a pensioner rents housing, he can request financial relief. The rent – subject to a number of conditions – will be reduced. Provided he has no savings over £16,000. And if he has no additional income. And if the cost does not include utility services for gas, water, cleaning of the adjoining territory, and lawn care in front of the house. And finally: if he does not occupy a dwelling that far exceeds natural needs.
When examining the legislation regulating this very delicate sphere of relations between a citizen and the state, one is impressed by the detailed elaboration of all sorts of life situations. Take the case when, due to illness, one cannot properly care for oneself, namely (here follows the list in the document): when it is difficult to dress oneself, wash, move around the house, take medicines prescribed by a doctor, as well as hear, see, and speak. If you are over 65 and have been in this condition for the last six months, and nothing will change in your situation in the next six months, then the state will pay a certain sum so that you can hire a nurse or a regularly visiting helper.
It is noteworthy that not only illnesses and their health consequences can serve as a weighty basis for this kind of state-paid care. A sufficient argument is considered the elementary need for communication if, being alone, you are, as I quote further, 'subject to sudden attacks of anxiety, confusion, agitation, and depression,' and also in these moments need moral support to continue your life in its everyday routine...
Everything is thought out to the smallest detail, again taking into account the specifics of life on the British Isles, spoiled to a certain extent by such an oceanic warm blanket as the warm Gulf Stream current. Starting from the third Monday in September, everyone over 60 is entitled to a 'winter' supplement. And if the thermometer drops below zero, then for each cold week, by British standards, the pensioner will be paid an additional £8.50.
One of the key elements of the new pension policy in Britain is the opportunity to 'linger' at work and retire later – with significant financial benefit for oneself. Currently, men begin receiving a pension at 65, and women at 60, with a third of Britons preferring to end their working life early. 'Retirement after 50 is indeed becoming a common thing,' states Helen Barnes of the British Institute for Policy Studies.
But in 2020 the retirement age for both sexes will be fixed at the upper limit – 65 years, although freedom of choice will remain. To stimulate, in the interests of the entire nation, the labor enthusiasm of elderly citizens, Tony Blair's government in 2004 adopted a pension law that, in the opinion of its authors, provides attractive schemes for keeping able-bodied citizens in the ranks of the 'labor army,' thereby slowing the steady growth of a shortage of hired labor.
The first scheme: if you, having reached an age when you can avoid getting up in the morning with the alarm clock, will work for another five years, then the weekly pension will be not 105 pounds, but 159 pounds and 60 pence. The second scheme: you can not increase regular payments, but after five years of sweet hard labor get a large lump sum at once – the entire standard pension due plus interest exceeding the Bank of England's annual accruals by 2% (approximately 6.75%). As a result, "at the exit" you will be handed 32,306 pounds sterling, which, however, you will have to pay taxes on.
Since life is getting more expensive, and Britain is no exception, many will certainly not dismiss such offers, especially men who, as Helen Barnes rightly notes, having retired, "suffer more from the loss of social status and the position of a working person. Women, as we have found out, find it easier to fill the void with caring for the family. And women usually have better social connections outside work than men".
The biased attitude towards "old people" also has an effect. Jeremy Fennel from the charity "Age Concern" believes that British pensioners are pushed to the margins of life, they are more "marginalized and isolated" than their peers in other European countries. Quote: "Those over 65 are denied credit and insurance, even driver's licenses for 70-year-olds need to be renewed much more often than everyone else – once every three years. A training grant cannot be obtained even by those over 55". In short, it is possible that Blair's pension reform – it starts on April 6, 2005 – will ease the acuteness of the problem of an aging population, which could again turn Britain into the "sick man" of Europe, although this is a pan-European phenomenon.
In any case, the problem will clearly not dissolve in the coming decades. And therefore the harsh but fair verdict of the Financial Times remains in force: "Thousands of tomorrow's pensioners will have to come to terms with the thought that hard times await them. And those who are starting their working life need to think about old age from the very beginning and save money for it. The fat years – at least in the foreseeable future – seem to have come to an end. Although some stubborn optimists remind us that the curve may still pull through".
In Britain, and in other parts of Europe, there have always been incorrigible "historical" optimists who relied on chance. But there have always been realists as well: they place more trust in the regulatory role of the state, which in various ways, including the reformist pension law of 2004, precisely and directly, according to the canons of acupuncture, cauterizes pain points in the body of social security.