Pensions - Articles - Government to write to those who won't get a state pension

 Commenting on the news that the Government has agreed to write directly to those people who do not meet the Minimum Qualifying Period for the new state pension, which is 10 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions,

 Steven Cameron Pensions Director at Aegon said: “We warmly welcome the Government having agreed to write individually to the estimated 100,000 individuals who don’t have sufficient NI contributions to qualify for the new state pension. It is vital that this group understands this as early as possible rather than facing a shock at state pension age. Some may be able to take steps to improve their retirement prospects either through paying extra voluntary NI contributions or by contributing to a workplace or private pension.

 “But this is just a first step and we urge the Government to go much further and write directly to every individual to provide them with an estimate of what state pension they are on target to receive. This should then be updated periodically. Our research shows that millions of individuals have no clear understanding of how much or how little they may receive as a state pension. While people can now request a projection, the majority will not think of doing so. Sending out individual personalised state pension forecasts would mean individuals could look at these alongside their private pension forecasts, take stock of whether they are doing enough for the retirement they aspire to, and if not take early action.”