Predictions that the Island's National Insurance Fund could run out by 2054 may be wrong. It could be sooner than that.
That original figure came in a report a year ago.
The operation of the Island’s National Insurance Fund recorded a ?10.4 million shortfall in 2013/14, the second year running that spending from the Fund on state pensions and other benefits has exceeded NI contributions paid into it.
The shortfall, which has had to be covered by a transfer from the Fund’s investment income, is revealed in the latest Manx National Insurance Fund accounts to be laid before the November sitting of Tynwald.
The Fund’s operating account went into deficit for the first time in the 2012/13 financial year with a shortfall of ?14 million.
The report by consultants Ci65 is due to be made public in the near future.
In the current financial year the Treasury will spend ?190.2 million on NI funded benefits, mainly on the state retirement pension, and ?78.2 million on general revenue funded benefits such as income support and child benefit.
Over that same time it is estimated that ?170 million will be raised from National Insurance Contributions.
Treasury Minister Eddie Teare says doing nothing is not an option - and that the answer is not just upping contributions: