ABSTRACT
What are the objectives of old age pensions, and to what extent have pensions in the UK since the war met them? The starting point (Section 8.1) is to list possible aims (by no means all of them compatible). Section 8.2 discusses some major issues of principle: the case for and against compulsion; arguments about the relative desirability of funded and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) schemes; 1 and the place, if any, of actuarial principles. Section 8.3 looks at various reforms, implemented or proposed, since 1948 and shows how they relate to the objectives in Section 8.1. The bulk of the discussion concerns the National Insurance system and its relation with the private sector. For reasons of space two major areas receive litde attention: there is no detailed discussion of the vast numbers of occupational and private pension schemes; nor is there any analysis of the position of widows.
