Book Description

This report welcomes the improvements in retirement income that the new Single-tier State Pension will bring. However, the key to the policy's successful implementation lies in the Government informing the public as soon as possible about how it will affect individuals. The Committee criticises the Government for hampering its scrutiny of the proposals. The Government not only imposed an extremely tight timetable, but brought forward the implementation date by a year, after the Committee had completed taking evidence. The Committee says that the Government must work with them to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible and that Defined Benefit pension schemes do not suffer as a result. The Government should also develop and publish a clear explanation of how means-tested support, including passported benefits, will operate under the Single-tier Pension, and the transitional protection that will be put in place. Many women born between 1952 and 1953 believed that they would suffer a double adverse effect on their State Pension income, arising from the increases in their State Pension Age combined with their ineligibility for the Single-tier Pension, if it was introduced in 2017 as set out in the White Paper. The Government should clarify the position. Some women did not build up their own NI record because they had an expectation that they would be able to rely on their husband's contributions to give them entitlement to a Basic State Pension. The Government should assess and publish the cost of allowing women in this position who are within 15 years of State Pension Age to retain this right