Who Pays The State Pension In An Independent Scotland?

13th February 2022

The latest skirmish in the economics of independence wars relates to the state pension. Specifically, which government would pay State Pensions in an independent Scotland. Ian Blackford maintains that the UK government will pay the State Pension to Scottish residents who qualify for a UK state pension through their pre-independence national insurance contributions (NICs).

But state pensions are not paid for from a "pot" that individuals build up during their working lives. Instead they are paid using money from today's taxes and borrowing - a pay-as-you-go scheme. Since individuals have no ownership rights over their past contributions, the UK Government can change the qualifying rules for state pensions as its sees fit. Recent and proposed increases in the qualifying retirement age are examples of it such rule-changes. The State Pension is simply a benefit that UK government could reduce, or even, in principle, eliminate.

Read the full scary and worrying article HERE