• WASPI campaign and parliamentary debate highlights the need for better communication of state pension changes
“This is all a consequence of not keeping people adequately informed of changes to the State pension, leading many women financially unprepared for retirement, with little time to do anything about it. Government should learn from this.
“Everyone, regardless of their age, should be given an accurate personalised statement setting out their State pension entitlement, what and when they will receive it, and what they can do to increase it. Many people may mistakenly believe they will get the full new State pension of £155.65 per week, not realising, that for many retiring in the next ten years this simply won’t be the case. To address this, the government must invest in providing regular communications, ideally through digital means. The pensions industry is well-placed to promote these.
“Under automatic enrolment, more people will build up a pension in the workplace via their employer’s scheme, supplementing their State pension entitlement. The development of a pensions dashboard, online technology where people can see all their private, state and workplace pensions in one place, is the way forward replacing the underused, and soon to be defunct, Combined Pension Statements.
Deprivation of Capital rule
“Anyone age 55 or over has the right to access their pension in any way they like. This may mean buying a retirement income product or cashing in their pension fund and spending it all. People may not realise that deliberately exhausting their pension savings could mean they lose any entitlement to means-tested benefits, potentially leaving some to survive on a reduced State pension. The government has a responsibility for making this much clearer to individuals.”
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