Government delays introduction of £140-a-week state pension

Pensions minister Steve Webb has announced the introduction of a £140-a-week flat rate state pension will be delayed because of complexity of changing Britain’s complex pension system.

Webb (pictured) announced that progress on radical reform of the state pension system will be delayed until later in the year because of the ‘scale and complexity’ of the changes.

In the March Budget chancellor George Osborne said information on the changes would be published in the spring.

Webb expected to introduce a statutory mechanism for increasing the state pension age in line with improvements in life expectancy but has said this will now be delayed until the autumn.

An announcement on the introduction of a £140-a-week universal pension will also be delayed.

Webb said: ‘Given the scale, complexity and importance of these two significant reforms we are still working on the details, to ensure we get them right.

‘Therefore, we will set out further detail on both the single-tier reform and state pension age review mechanism in a white paper in the autumn.’

In April 2011 the Department for Work and Pensions set out plans in a green paper to replace the current fragmented pensions system, that currently has a number of means-tested elements, with a straightforward, single amount for everyone.

The green paper also detailed plans to link the state pension age to longevity, meaning the age at which people are entitled to the state pension will increase as people live longer. This is to prevent the cost of state pensions becoming an increasing burden on taxpayers who are having to support people for longer in retirement.