英國擬廢止“配偶養老金”制度

在本週三的女王演講中，英國政府將公佈一系列法案修正提案，其中包括停止發放“已婚人士養老金”。英國目前的養老金制度規定，在職已婚人士退休後領取養老金的同時，其配偶也可根據其之前繳納的社會保險金額申領一定數額的“已婚人士津貼”。這一規定導致很多英國公民的外籍配偶在未繳納任何社會保險和所得稅的情況下，每年還能領到約3500英鎊（約合人民幣33615元）的政府津貼。英國養老金及社保大臣韋伯日前表示，不居住在英國但是一直在領取“配偶養老金”的人數高達22萬，他們每年申領的配偶養老金約爲3500英鎊，相當於英國納稅人每年的納稅額中有4.1億英鎊被用於供養外籍配偶，而這些人中有一部分甚至“從未踏上過英國的國土”。將於2016年實行的新養老金法案將廢除這一做法，並規定凡是在英國工作、照顧老人或小孩至少35年的人將獲得至少每年7000英鎊的政府養老金。養老金申領將根據個人的工作貢獻和稅金繳納而定，未繳納社會保險和所得稅的在職人士配偶將無法申領養老金。

Taxpayers are funding state pensions for hundreds of thousands of people who live abroad and have never paid tax in this country, a minister has disclosed.

Steve Webb, the pensions minister, said that those receiving British pensions overseas include many foreign citizens who have “never set foot in Britain at all”.

The pensions can be worth £3,500 a year for the entire length of a person’s retirement, and are costing taxpayers £410 million a year — a rise of More than a third over the past decade.

Mr Webb revealed the figures ahead of this week’s Queen’s Speech, which will include a proposed law that will stop new claims for such pensions.

The situation arises because of rules that allow spouses to claim a “married person’s allowance” based on their husband or wife’s history of National Insurance contributions. The working spouse can receive their state entitlement too.

While claims for a “married person’s pension” are falling in the UK, the number of such pensions paid to people abroad has risen steadily.

There are 220,000 people living outside the UK who receive some sort of state pension based solely on their spouse’s British work history. That is unacceptable, the minister said.

He said: “Most people would think, you pay National Insurance, you get a pension. But folk who have never been here but happen to be married to someone who has are getting pensions.”

Mr Webb also warned that many middle-class workers are not saving enough for retirement and face a steep drop in their living standards after they stop work. In response, he said, employees should sign up to “automatic escalation” deals where they commit money from future pay rises to their pensions.

Mr Webb spoke to The Daily Telegraph as the Coalition prepares to publish the Pensions Bill in the Queen’s Speech.

Wednesday’s speech will be the Coalition’s first set-piece opportunity to respond to the political concerns raised by the rise of the UK Independence Party in last week’s local elections. Insiders say the speech will contain a modest package of measures.

The Pensions Bill will create a new flat-rate state pension of about £7,000 a year for everyone in Britain who spends at least 35 years working or caring for children or the elderly. The new pension system, in place from 2016, will do away with several aspects of the current regime, including rules allowing people to claim a pension based on their spouse’s history.

The new flat-rate pension “is for individuals, it’s not based on your spouse, it’s just for you”, Mr Webb said. Existing pensions will be unaffected, but the change will prevent new claims for pensions that cannot be justified, he said.

“Women married to British men, we are getting more of them claiming a pension based on his record. In some cases, they have never set foot in Britain at all.

“There are women who have never been to Britain claiming on their husband’s record. There are also men who have never been to Britain claiming on their wife’s record.”

He added: “Say you are an American man and you marry a British woman, you can claim, if she has a full record of contributions, a pension of £3,500 a year for your entire retirement having never paid a penny in National Insurance.

“Most people would think that is not what National Insurance is for.”

The new single-tier state pension introduced this week will be the centrepiece of the Coalition’s pension reform, accompanied by the new auto-enrolment scheme that automatically saves a sum from low-paid workers’ wages into a retirement fund.

Mr Webb said that those two reforms will ensure that people on low and average wages will be able to maintain their standard of living in retirement. But high earners will need to save more or work for longer to avoid a sharp fall in their incomes after they stop work.

“If you are on a modest wage, a £7,000 state pension and an auto-enrolment pension gets you not far short of your current income. It’s not a cliff edge. But if you are on above average earnings and you want to maintain your living standards, you need to do more.”

He added: “In terms of saving more, most people probably know that they are not putting much by.”

Mr Webb said that ministers will encourage more employers to offer their staff “automatic escalation” deals that earmark future pay rises for pension contributions. “No one wants to put in extra cash now, but people are willing to say, next time I have a pay rise, I commit now that part of it will go into the pension,” he said. Evidence from the US and other countries suggests that such schemes “work pretty well,” he said.

The new flat-rate pension will mean that many higher earners will receive a lower state pension than they would have done under the current rules.

Mr Webb admitted that the new scheme would be less beneficial to higher earners. However, he insisted that such people would still have better retirement incomes than the lower-paid because of their occupational pensions.