Incomes in retirement in the UK: changes in the debate since 1996 and prospects for the future

Abstract

My previous report on incomes in retirement (Hutton 1996) was written in June 1996. Almost a year later, the UK election in May 1997 led to a change in government and, in the following November, to a review of pension provision. The results of this review will be announced in a Green Paper due in the Autumn 1998. Prior to the election the political parties made statements and election pledges on pensions, so that it has been a time of some clarity of position but also, until the results of the review are published, of considerable uncertainty. The areas for debate, however, have been well set out.

Two years ago I concluded:

It will be interesting…to see what progress or otherwise has occurred in ensuring an adequate income in retirement, more equal provision for men and women, in the movement towards funded pensions, in the role of the state pension, and in the progress of the minimum pension guarantee. (Hutton 1996: 785)

In this report I will first discuss where the debate on these issues has gone. Policy developments will then be set out, and finally I will identify questions to be asked in evaluating the pensions' review when it is published.