Briefing Notes

Briefing Note 10 - The balance between state and private pension provision

Much of the debate on the future of pensions assumes a shift from state provision towards increasing private pension provision. This note shows that in reality this is unlikely to happen. It will continue to be the case that for most people the state will be the most important source of retirement income. Further, state provision will increasingly be made through means-tested benefits rather than traditional state pensions— the Basic State Pension (BSP) and SERPS / State Second Pension (S2P). Means-tested benefits are more vulnerable to short-term change as they are not based on contributions built up over a working life. 

This Briefing Note looks at the balance between state and private pension by looking at who qualifies and how state pension is changing.