Latest news with #Work and Pensions Secretary
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Long-term triple lock commitment ‘out of scope' of pensions commission
A long-term commitment to the triple lock on pensions is not in the scope of the resurrected Pensions Commission, Liz Kendall has said. The Work and Pensions Secretary has announced that she is reviving the commission, which last met in 2006, to tackle the issue of working age adults failing to put enough money into their retirement savings. Experts have warned that people looking to retire in 2050 are on course to receive £800 per year less than current pensioners. The commission is expected to provide recommendations for how to boost retirement income in 2027. Ms Kendall also confirmed that the next statutory Government review into when and how to raise the state pension age will start work now. 'Unless we act, tomorrow's pensioners will be poorer than today's, because people who are saving aren't saving enough for their retirement,' she said during a speech launching the commission. Lowering the age and earnings threshold at which people are brought into auto-enrolment and as well as looking at easy-access 'sidecar' savings accounts will be among the options the commission looks into. Ms Kendall was asked if she thought it was impossible to maintain the triple lock guarantee given its cost and if she could guarantee it would be in Labour's next manifesto. She said: 'The triple lock is out of scope of the commission. We've got a very clear commitment to that for the entirety of this Parliament. 'And what we're asking the commission to do is genuinely look medium to longer term, the middle of this century, and how the state pension and second pensions work together.' The Office for Budget Responsibility recently said that the triple lock has already cost three times more than initially expected and suggested it was unaffordable in the long term. Ms Kendall was also asked about the potential hit to small businesses from increased automatic enrolment costs. 'I want our small businesses to be successful, but it is also the case, you know, flag forward to the middle of the century, 2050, if we don't act, the amount of pensioner poverty we face will cost everybody if we don't act,' she said. She said she was 'under no illusions about how difficult this will be'. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said 45% of working-age adults were putting nothing into their pensions. The previous pensions commission recommended automatically enrolling people in workplace pensions, which has seen the number of eligible employees saving rise from 55% in 2012 to 88%. DWP analysis suggested 15 million people were under-saving for retirement, with the self-employed, low-paid and some ethnic minorities particularly affected. Around three million self-employed people are said to be saving nothing for their retirement, while only a quarter of people on low pay in the private sector and the same proportion from Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds are saving. Women face a significant gender pensions gap, with those approaching retirement in line to receive barely half the income that men can expect.
Reuters
21-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
UK launches review into raising state pension age
LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Britain on Monday said it would launch a review into raising the state pension age - a key factor for the public finances - at the same time as a fresh look at contributions by workers towards their retirement. "Alongside reviving the Pensions Commission, I am also announcing the launch of the next statutory Government Review of State Pension age," Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said in a statement. The current state pension age is 66. The previous government said in 2023 that an increase in the state pension age to 67 would be phased in between 2026 and 2028 and that a further review on raising the age to 68 would take place within two years after the next election which was held in 2024. Under 2014 legislation, Britain's government must undertake a review every six years that considers demographic and economic factors affecting retirement age.
Sky News
21-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Government to conduct early review into state pension age
The work and pensions secretary has announced a review of the state pension age. The government is required to conduct a review into the state pension age - currently 66 - every six years, but it appears to be starting this one earlier as the last one concluded in 2023. Giving a speech in west London, Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, also announced that she would revive the Pension Commission to consider why future pensioners are on track to be poorer than pensioners now. Please refresh the page for the latest version.
