Flat-rate State Pension

Commenting ahead of the announcement by the UK Government later today of details of a new flat-rate State Pension, Age Cymru's Head of Policy and Public Affairs Graeme Francis says:

 
"The UK Government's proposals for a single tier State Pension could help transform retirement for future pensioners, bringing clarity and stability to a system which is complicated and unfair.

"Paying the State Pension at a flat-rate should help people to plan for their retirement and the new proposals will also provide people who have gaps in their working lives - often women who have taken time away from work to raise children, with a fairer income.

"Age Cymru feels this is also an opportunity to lift up to 100,000 older people in Wales out of poverty by paying them a reasonable income, without them having to apply for additional means-tested top-ups such as Pension Credit. 

"The fact that around a third of people who are entitled to Pension Credit are not claiming it - and are therefore living below the poverty line, clearly demonstrates that this system does not work.

"Age Cymru would also like to see the same imaginative thinking applied by the UK Government to the issue of the current unacceptable levels of pensioner poverty to allow current pensioners, who will not receive the new pension, the same peace of mind."