Autumn Statement 2015: Osborne confirms new flat state pension will be £155.65 a week
Chancellor George Osborne today said that the new flat state pension will be £155.65 a week, while the basic state pension will rise by £3.35 to £119.30 a week from April.
It came as he promised to maintain the state pension "triple lock" – meaning they'll rise in line with the highest of inflation, earnings or at least 2.5 per cent every year – for the rest of the government's term in office.
Jason Whyte, Director in Ernst & Young's insurance practice, said of the new flat rate state pension: "For someone working full time today, it’s roughly 60 per cent of the Living Wage."
Read more: What analysts and businesses make of the Autumn Statement
"So for the lowest earners, the step down in income at retirement will not be too bad by international standards, but for most people it will probably leave a sizeable gap to what they would call a comfortable retirement income."
"And, it will be some time before auto-enrolment savings are big enough to plug that gap.”
Another nugget from the Autumn Statement is the scrapping of pension credits for people who have left the country for more than a month from April.