The National Association of Pension Funds believes that a simple, fair citizens' pension would remove 10 million future pensioners from means testing. They claim that it would reduce poverty by providing a simple state pension system on which to build additional savings, and would be fairer to women, carers, and others who miss out in the current system.
Their research shows that four out of five people support the idea of equal payments for men and women, even where women have taken work breaks or worked part time on low salaries.
Our view
Education is key. A simplified pension system will work but you have to educate people to save for tomorrow. We are not so sure about the idea of equal pensions for men and women. As advisers, fundamentally we say this disadvantages men. They pay the same in (assuming women get credit for time when looking after families) yet they do not live as long and thus get less out. Pay more in, get less out, this is a poor investment for a man and a great investment for a woman.