State pension update

The Chancellor has announced that from 6th April 2016 the state pension will rise to £155.65 a week, £8,094 a year.

However, despite Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann hailing the new system as ‘clearer and simpler’, this is not quite the case: There will be a period of transition which means that in the first few years most will not get the new ‘flat rate’.

Women in particular will lose out, with only 1 in 4 getting the new rate in the first year. And in the first five years, over a million new retirees will qualify for less than the full amount. This is because a major change in the system means that more National Insurance contributions will be needed to get the full amount.