Pensions Act raises fresh questions

On the face of it, this should have been a breeze. The Act promised better state pensions by reducing the number of years’ contributions needed to achieve a full Basic State Pension to 30 from April 2010, and by restoring the link between earnings and the Basic State Pension. And although it also increased the state pension age in stages to 68, surprisingly, the UK nation hardly raised a murmur against the idea. But there were a couple of sticking points that threatened to wreck the DWP’s timetable. The Lords raised both these points as amendments, during a particularly interesting ‘ping...