News
February 2005
Principles for Pension Reform
The Government has outlined six principles for pension reform.
‘Principles for reform – The national pensions debate’ sets out these principles as follows:
- the pensions system must tackle poverty effectively
- the opportunity to build an adequate retirement income should be open to all
- affordability and economic stability must be maintained
- the pensions system should produce fair outcomes for women and carers
- reform should seek to establish a system that people understand
- reform should be based around as broad a consensus as possible
Launching the document, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson, said:
“Various organisations are putting forward very different proposals for pension reform. We must engage seriously with all of these, but as yet there is no consensus on the detailed way forward. As a first step, I'm today outlining principles for pension reform which should give us an agreed framework in which to evaluate all the options and define a way forward.”
The six principles will be the criteria against which further reform, including the recommendations from the Pensions Commission, will be evaluated.