A single, simple and decent pension
The Coalition Government's state pension reform will deliver a single, simple and decent pension.
- The new single tier pension, which will apply to anyone retiring after 2017, is equivalent to £144 a week. The basic state pension is currently £107.45.
- For the first time men and women will be treated equally.
- Self-employed workers will be included fully for the first time.
- You no longer lose out if you decide to bring up children or become a carer.
- Every bit of pension people have built up so far will be honoured.
This on top of the Liberal Democrat 'triple lock' for current pensioners which means that the full state pension, by April, will be £650 more than when Labour were in power. This means the basic state pension is now at its highest share of average earnings since 1992.
Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb said:
"The current state pension system is fiendishly complex, after seventy years of tinkering by successive governments, and Gordon Brown's strategy of means-testing has failed those pensioners it was designed to help most.
"We need a simple, single state pension, set above the basic means test, which enables everyone to work towards a decent income in retirement and encourages more peoples to save for their old age."
You can read more about the new single-tier pension on Lib Dem Voice here.