The impact of the Government's single-tier state pension reform

The Government have announced that they intend to replace the current state pension system with a single-tier flat rate state pension.  The aim of the proposed reform is to simplify the state pension system, and a White Paper setting out further details of the reform was released in January 2013. 

The aim of this research was to provide a detailed, comprehensive, independent evaluation of the impact of introducing this single-tier state pension. The proposals are likely to have significant implications for the distribution of pensioners’ incomes and Government expenditure on state pensions and associated benefits in the future, and could have wider impacts on the future of pensions offered in the private sector.

The outcome of the project was a series of briefing papers which provide a detailed, comprehensive and independent analysis of the impact of introducing the single-tier state pension.  The analysis covers this issues:

- Impact on different cohorts of individuals, and individuals with different characteristics

- Impact on Defined Benefit pension schemes

- Impact on future government spending

- The transition between the current system and the single-tier pension