Britain’s workers can look forward to the worst state pension of any major country, according to a report by the developed world’s leading economic think tank. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study calculated that a typical British worker will at retirement receive a state pension and other benefits worth around 29% of what they had previously been earning. That compares with an average of 63% in other OECD countries, and more than 80% in Italy and the Netherlands. The report said this expected “net replacement rate” will be the lowest of any OECD country. The UK population is ageing rapidly, has relatively high levels of poverty among the over-75s, and a much bigger problem with obesity in old age, said the OECD, with 20% of British over-80s classified as obese, compared with 15% in the US and under 10% in Italy.
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “Working people in Britain face the biggest retirement cliff edge of any developed nation. We are letting down today’s workers if we can’t provide them with a decent retirement income.” Read more.
