- The basic state pension will be up-rated in line with earnings, prices (as measured by CPI), or 2.5 percent; whichever is highest from April 2011.
- The basic state pension remains lower than most other rich countries and many eligible people do not claim the pension credit.
- The cost to women of raising the pension age to 66 means that they are the vast majority of more than five million workers in their fifties who will miss £30bn in pension and other benefits and pay an extra 313 billion in tax and national insurance.
- Most women born before 1953 will still be able to retire no later than 62, but those born on or after April 6 1953 will retire at 65. and those on or after April 6 1954 will wait until they are 66.
- Millions of women will not be able to retire before state pension age because the majority of women have little or no savings.
- From 2012 employers will start automatically enrolling workers into a government-run private pension scheme, even if it is only a tiny company
Tim Jones, 54, is chief executive of NEST, the National Employment Savings Trust, which will become the low-cost default option for employers who have no pension scheme.
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