Independence for Scotland would bring higher pensions, more inflation-proofing, and potentially a lower state pension age than in the UK, the White Paper promised this week.
For anyone living and working in Scotland at the time of independence, "the UK pension entitlement they have accrued prior to independence will form part of their Scottish State Pension entitlement", the government has said. It would be affordable because a lower proportion of Scottish tax revenues were currently spent in Scotland on "social protection" (as a whole), though the paper does concede that from 2033 there would be fewer workers per pensioner in Scotland than in the UK, and also that "the particular challenge Scotland faces is projected lower growth in our working age population".
The scrutiny has begun. Alasdair MacDougall, director at Martin Aitken Financial Services in Glasgow, said: "Normally when you send a letter like this it starts 'Dear Santa'."
But he added there were serious concerns over the extra costs in financial services. "You can't escape from the fact there will be additional costs of regulation, if there is going to be a UK regulator and a Scottish regulator that can only add complexity, and complexity will bring greater cost."
Ewan Brown, chairman of Scottish Financial Enterprise, said a month ago: "The cost of this new and additional regulator will fall on the industry and it will be measured in millions of pounds. Staff numbers will be counted in the hundreds - Malta has 200, Ireland 600. This is not alarmist - it is a dispassionate description of the factual position."
Neil Lovatt, marketing director at Scottish Friendly, said Scotland would need to replicate the Financial Conduct Authority, and it could not use the Bank of England as prudential regulator so would need a Scottish Prudential Regulation Authority too. "That is a perfectly reasonable position politically but it will eventually cause chaos and extra cost."
Iain Duckworth, at financial planners Duckworth Alexander in Edinburgh, added: "Do we really want another body appointed solely for Scotland?
"My heart says yes to independence, but my head says no to another layer of bureaucracy."
Carl Melvin, at Affluent Financial Planning in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, said: "Like most things, the devil is in the detail - I would like to see how an independent Scotland would pay for the proposals made, how UK public services/functions would change under independence."
Pensions campaigner Dr Ros Altmann welcomed the proposal to retain savings credit for lower-income pensioners with modest savings. She added: "An Independent Commission on pensions would be very helpful ....nevertheless, I do think it is inevitable that pension ages will need to rise and working life will extend to later ages."
David Trenner at Intelligent Pensions was optimistic. "If you are going to vote yes there is nothing in there that would worry you, if you are going to vote no you can find plenty of things to pick holes in. I actually think that broadly the aim is to make a better society North of the Border."
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