Beyond Welfare. Who pays for the Baby Boomers? Moyra Riseborough

Presentation gives Main premise of the paper Some ‘sound bites’ from it Argues that we cannot can go on ignoring welfare

Topical but not sexy As a society we are unenthusiastic about contributing to welfare We are more individualistic – less keen on common good Social and political changes brought us here - do we understand what happened? The Baby Boomer generation is facing the impacts first

Baby Boomers Are people born between 1945 and 1965 We are the protesting, individualistic, articulate, difficult to pigeon hole generation and there will be a lot of us about in 10 years time We are labelled as the sure to be hedonistic older generation compared to previous cohorts – MORI calls us the SKIN Spend the Kids Inheritance Now generation

The paper talks about how we got to where we are now Reflects on social and political changes under Thatcher and Major Effects of breaking down power of organised labour, privatisation, reductions in welfare, attacks on municipalism, strong beliefs in individualism and the power of the market

The old certainties disappeared Baby Boomers affected by more uncertainty than previous generations – benefited or were damaged by the flexible labour market Job security, loyalty, staying with the same employer – largely gone ‘Encouraged’ to contribute to private/occupational pensions, other financial products Saw and felt ill effects when markets collapsed – pension funds misappropriated

New Labour offered the Third Way In the run up to the 1997 General Election – somewhere between the market and the state After the Election Introduced a Green paper New Contract for Welfare – settlement for pensions for the 21 st century Complicated changes in pensions since then that are hard to understand

Main changes Minimum Income Guarantee – bring all pensioner incomes up to a basic level Improved the level of basic retirement pension but did not restore the link to average earnings Introduced stakeholder pensions – state second pension Now proposing changes to encourage people to stay in the workforce and offering incentives through rewards if people defer pensions

Currently pensions feature in pre 2005 Election trail Not surprising - the Grey vote is very important But the subject is complicated – have to think about state pensions and welfare benefits, tax, private and occupational pensions, income from other sources and how long it all has to last Also have to consider there are fewer young people in the work force – Baby Boomers in particular are being asked to work for longer

We may not like welfare But the truth is we still use it a lot Despite rising use of private health insurance, private pensions and so on – we as a society still use welfare and rely on it The older we get the more significant the state pension becomes as a source of income Women have traditionally been poorer in older age than men – it’s still the case Some people did well out of the flexible job market but many did not – they face a poorer older age

In a totally unscientific survey I asked fellow Baby Boomers friends what they were doing to prepare for older age Answers ranged from nothing to complicated financial arrangements Complicated ‘spread the risk’ ideas e.g. buying second homes, buying to let, plans to sell the home and move abroad, a small business plan Few people had much in the way of occupational pensions in any case – the flexible labour market had seen to that!

Compared to survey and other evidence The responses I got seem about right Second home ownership is increasing amongst Baby Boomers, investing in bricks and mortar a high priority Baby Boomers report that they intend to spend, travel, ‘savour’ rather than save time and if they are accumulating it is in order to enjoy the future But – the paper asks how many of us will be able to afford to retire? Is it a choice?

Gap between the haves and have knot's has increased Reality is people will have to work for longer – for some of us this is great but for others it’s a noose around the neck We are reaping what we sowed – by being highly individual, selfish, having to cope in an uncertain environment we forgot all about the importance of some sort of collective good The generation behind us knows even less about this ideal and cares even less about welfare ?

Doesn’t have to be this way “Pensions policy is the oil tanker of social policy” (Falkingham) – hard but not impossible to turn around Been some good changes – real improvements in basic incomes but the whole system needs to change Has to be more than the tinkering that has happened so far

Paper ends by being hopeful If any generation can lobby for change it’s the Baby Boomers – has the experience Even has some memory of what collective good means If that fails there’s always self interest - we can’t afford to ignore welfare and who is going to pay for it any longer