Local MP backs fairer pensions
Local MP Danny Alexander has welcomed Pensions Minister Steven Webb’s announcement of a new simple single-tier pension, ensuring a flat-rate for everyone in the UK retiring after 2017.
The new system will be equivalent to £144 a week – the basic state pension is currently £107.45. The pension will, for the first time, treat men and women equally and include self-employed workers. It will also mean that people no longer lose out if they decide to bring up children or become a carer. The Government has confirmed that any pension rights which have been accrued under the current State Pension system will be honoured.
Mr Alexander said: “I am very proud that the Lib Dems in Government have, today, announced a fairer single-tier pension system. The changes will give everyone, in the Highlands and across the UK, the chance to have a decent income through retirement.
“The Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on these changes for decades and successive Governments have failed to bring the state pension into the 21 century.
The new single-tier system will ensure that everyone has a decent income and the information they need to make the right choices for their future.
“Pensioners now receive £650 more than they did when Labour were in power, due to the ‘triple-lock’ that this Government put on pensions last year. Moreover, the basic state pension is now at its highest share of average earnings since 1992 ”
