Pension provision for women in the UK is set to be overhauled by the government, reports suggest. However the reforms are unlikely to be as far-reaching as those advocated by the Pensions Commission.
The chairman of the Pensions Commission, Lord Turner, has advocated making the state pensions’ universal right based on residency in the UK, rather than years spent work in the country.
However reports in the media suggest that John Hutton, the minister responsible for pensions, has ruled out giving state pension rights to all. Nevertheless, women who take a career break out of necessity to care for children or elderly relatives will be rewarded under the proposed changes.
A far broader national insurance scheme is likely to be used to enable women to make pension contributions for all the weeks that they are out of the job market caring for family members, the government is set to announce. A new week by week system is intended to give flexibility to allow for those women who take numerous short term or part time jobs over a number of years.
Currently less than a third of British women qualify for the full state pension entitlement.