I wish Trevor Llanwarne well as he retires as Government Actuary, hoping he’ll take advantage of the 10.3% pa uplift in the BSP if he defers his State Pension till 2106.
If he, as many of his civil servant buddies do, puts further strain on the National Insurance Fund, he can console himself in the knowledge that any damage he and his mates have done, will be repaired by the private sector.
This is not some statement from some policy wonk flying a kite, this is from the Government Actuary’s Quinquennial review of the National Insurance Fund – Trevor Llanwarne’s swansong.
And in case you haven’t got the gist of what Trevor is saying, he’s hinting that the depleting National Insurance Fund can be saved not by Treasury intervention but by cutting the State Pension because private savings will take up the slack.
The more you save, the less your state pension!
I admire the man’s chutzpah! Perhaps this was his private joke- like painting your face into a crowd scene or your name into the inside groove of an LP;.
But perhaps he’s serious! Perhaps he will be able to show his mates down the pub how he predicted the cuts in our state pensions all those years ago , when in 2020 the then chancellor gets his knife out!
The point of pensions savings is not to replace pension entitlement but to provide those who put aside money, the rights to extra pension.
The cynicism on display in the Government Actuary’s comment really is breathtaking and demonstrates just how arrogant the civil service still is.
If I was Ian Duncan Smith, to whom this report is addressed, I’d be having a not-so-quiet word with his Government Actuary reminding him just who it is who will be paying his inflation linked guaranteed pension.
