ABSTRACT
A coherent analysis of the pensions package available to elderly people in any developed country requires acceptance of two basic propositions: first, that there will be some public contribution to the income maintenance of the elderly and, second, that regardless of whether and to what extent it is considered desirable there will also always be some nonstate provision of income to retired people. Britain has a basic flat-rate pension. Although often described as a universal scheme, entitlement to this basic pension depends upon the fulfillment of contributory conditions. Sweden shares with Britain a basic flat-rate pension, though entitlement is conditional upon citizenship rather than contributions. The essential structure of postwar social security provision in Britain followed the 1942 Beveridge report. Government employees’ occupational pensions are the most fully integrated with the state pension schemes and are also the complementary sector for which it is most difficult to find separate information.
