Henry Smith MP has today welcomed the Government’s proposals to introduce a new flat-rate state pension, likely to start in April 2017.  The weekly payment will be £144, plus inflation rises, between now and 2017.  The current full state pension is £107.45 a week, but can be topped up to £142.70 with pension credit, and by the state second pension.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Henry said:

“The single tier pension is the next major step in the Government’s reform to the welfare system.

“This reform is also good news for women and the self-employed, who for too long have effectively been punished by the current system.

“The single tier pension will mean people have certainty in what they can expect from the state. Thirty-five years worth of National Insurance contributions will mean a full basic state pension, set above the existing means test.

“This follows an earlier announcement last October in which the Government introduced an auto-enrolment pension scheme to ensure that people are better equipped to save for their future. The innovative scheme, which is already in effect, has for the first time automatically enrolled people into a pension scheme by introducing new requirements on employers to sign-up their employees into a pension scheme. Employers and employees both pay into the scheme, with employees also getting some money back from the Government through pension tax relief which means that they are not taxed on the money they pay towards their pension.  Under the new scheme, it is estimated that up to 11 million workers will be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension.”