Pensions - Articles - Confusion "rife" over new state pension


In a report published today, Monday 11 January 2016, the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee calls on DWP to make urgent changes to the information they are sending to people reaching retirement age.

 The Committee says it has become clear over the last few months that the New State Pension (NSP) is widely misunderstood. The new system, which was introduced under the Pensions Act 2014, replaces the basic and additional pensions for people reaching state pension age from 6 April 2016. The evidence collected for this inquiry confirms that confusion over what people will receive from the NSP – and when they will receive it - is rife. The Committee is extremely concerned at evidence that State Pension statements and forecasts are confusing - and in some cases contradictory – and do not provide people with essential information.
  
 One witness to the inquiry recounted: ‘I was not aware of the 1st increase although I was sent a letter in January 2005 from The Pension Service but it contained no increase in my State Pension Age. So in 2005 I still believed I was going to receive my State Pension at 60. I was then notified by The Pension Service in January 2012, 2 ½ years before my 60th birthday, that I would not be receiving my State Pension until I was nearly 66.’
  
 This interim report sets out a series of changes to statements which the Committee believes DWP should urgently make. The Committee will be producing a further report addressing other issues, including the quality of other communications and the merits of transitional support to groups of women who have been subject to a change in state pension age.
  
 Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “Successive governments have bungled the fundamental duty to tell women of these major changes to when they can expect their state pension. Retirement expectations have been smashed as some women have only been told a couple of years before the date they expected to retire that no such retirement pension is now available. We are also concerned about the accuracy of existing information that is being sent out to women about their state pension entitlement. Groups representing this grotesquely disadvantaged group of women have suggested a pension entitlement notice. And so have other experts who have given evidence to the Committee. We expect the Department for Work and Pensions immediately to call into the department these witnesses, hammer out a new pension entitlement notice, and begin supplying all women with accurate information on their pension entitlement

Back to Index


Similar News to this Story

4 ways completing a tax return can help boost your pension
Missing the Self-Assessment deadline not only risks a penalty for late filing but could cost individuals hundreds, if not thousands of pounds in uncla
DWP holds AE thresholds with GBP90bn of pensions expected
The DWP has issued its review of the Automatic Enrolment Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band for 2025/26, retaining all three thresholds at
Response to Triple Lock means testing comments
Aegon has called for ‘a future focused debate on a sustainable state pension’ following comments on the Triple Lock by Conservative leader Kemi Badeno

Site Search

Exact   Any  

Latest Actuarial Jobs

Actuarial Login

Email
Password
 Jobseeker    Client
Reminder Logon

APA Sponsors

Actuarial Jobs & News Feeds

Jobs RSS News RSS

WikiActuary

Be the first to contribute to our definitive actuarial reference forum. Built by actuaries for actuaries.