State pension

Buck Consultants’ Fraser Smart says small pots and state pension top-ups could combine

Barnett Waddingham’s Malcolm McLean urges the government to bring forward DA legislation

Retirees with small pots should be allowed to draw down savings as fixed-term pensions to enable them to defer taking a state pension, says the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA).

Opinion was divided over this question too, but more respondents were in favour of the triple lock than were against it.

Pensioners would have been better off without the triple lock

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the state pension will continue to rise by at least 2.5% a year until 2020 if the Conservatives win the next election.

The state pension will be excluded from a proposed overall spending cap on benefits, Chancellor George Osborne has announced.

People will have to build up at least 10 years of National Insurance payments or equivalent credits to be eligible for the single-tier state pension.

The UK pension system's score in the annual Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index has improved but dropped two places in ranking to ninth as other countries overtook it.

HM Treasury is warning that a two year delay in raising the pension age in Scotland could cost the country £1.4bn.