The UK government remains "committed" to the introduction of a single-tier state pension, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), despite reports that the prime minister has raised concerns ahead of the publication of the White Paper on state pension reform.
The reforms, unveiled two years ago and confirmed in the most recent Budget by chancellor George Osborne as well as May's state opening of parliament by Queen Elizabeth II, will see the end of the state second pension (S2P) and contracting-out for defined benefit (DB) funds.
Malcolm McLean, a consultant at Barnett Waddingham, said he was not surprised by reports in the Financial Times that prime minister David Cameron was concerned about the impact of the reforms and had supposedly asked for the policy to be reconsidered ahead of the White Paper's publication in a few weeks. McLean acknowledged there were a number of "political sensitivities" around the reform of the state pension due to the risk of higher earners seeing reduced payments, but said the change was "absolutely critical" to the incoming auto-enrolment reform.
Pensions minister Steve Webb only last month signalled his commitment to state pension changes by saying the number of available state pension payments was "simply staggering", arguing that they would baffle even Einstein.
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