Pension exclusion in grey capitalism: mapping the pensions gap in Britain

Author: Sunley P.¹

Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Volume 25, Number 4, December 2000 , pp. 483-501(19)

Publisher: Royal Geographical Society

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Abstract:

The switch in Britain’s pension policy towards private funded schemes and a liberal style of state regulation have exposed variations in individuals’ ability and willingness to undertake pensions saving. This paper focuses on the patterns of exclusion and the geographies of pension consumption created by this reform. It argues that there are new patterns of pension provision which have important but neglected spatial dimensions. First, it shows that widening inequality among current pensioners involves a North-South divide in income and benefit take-up. Second, private second tier pension coverage, especially the take-up of personal policies, is found to be lower in areas with lower levels of income among existing pensioners. The paper considers whether the Government’s new stakeholder pensions are likely to be able to fill this pensions gap.

Keywords: Britain; pensions; surveys; inequality; regions; stakeholder

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP email: pjs@geo.ed.ac.uk

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