Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest estimate of the percentage of pensioners who will receive the full amount of the flat-rate State Pension from April 2016.

Nearly 90% of people reaching State Pension age in 2016/17 would have the full rate of the new State Pension, or more, if we include the amount of additional State Pension they opted out of or were opted out of when contracted out of SERPS or State Second Pension (S2P) (additional pension).

The percentage of pensioners reaching State Pension age in 2016/17 estimated to receive the full amount of the new State Pension directly from the state is around 37%. By 2020 this percentage will reach around 50% and by 2035 around 84%. Most people who contracted out of SERPS or S2P were required, as a condition of contracting out, to accrue an alternative private pension. This replaced the additional State Pension, which they were contracted-out of.

This reflects the fact that when contracted out they have either paid National Insurance Contributions at a lower rate, or some of the National Insurance contributions they paid were used to contribute to a private pension instead of the additional State Pension. They paid lower National Insurance into the National Insurance system, which reflected the fact that they were contributing to a private pension instead.