The Government has been urged to take a key lesson from the WASPI (Women against state pension inequality) controversy.
Hundreds of thousands of women are waiting to hear if they will get compensation from the DWP, with a report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recomminding payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950.
Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, told Express.co.uk: “What we all must learn, what the Government must learn is it’s really important that changes to such an important aspect of retirement, the state pension, are communicated really clearly.
“We should go through all reasonable steps to make sure that everyone is aware of changes.
“Within the private pensions sector, if you were changing your terms and conditions, of course you would go to great lengths to make sure people were aware of that.”
Mr Cameon said the Government could make sure to avoid a future similar issue by giving 12 years’ notice of any increases to the state pension age.
He said: “The reason that we came up with 12 years was that the moment an individual can start taking their private pension, or their workplace pension, from age 55.
“If someone is making that decision, they should have clarity on when the state pension will kick in.
“If you’re planning reasonably and rationally and responsibility, when your state pension kicks in will influence when you feel you should start taking your private pension.”
Mr Cameron has also called for the introduction of early access to the state pension by three years if a person would be happy to accept a lower rate.
He said this system would provide a solution for two different groups of people. He explained: “There will be some people out there who will be saying, I absolutely want the triple lock to continue to ratchet up the level of my state pension and I’m prepared to wait longer to get it.
“I’m prepared to accept that that might mean that the state pension age increases faster in future.
“There will be other people out there saying, I just want to get my state pension at the current age and I don’t want to have to wait longer, and I’m prepared to accept that maybe the triple lock can’t continue to grant as generous an increase in future.
“So I think there’s two groups of people. Some who’d prefer the state pension age to be fixed and the triple lock to be less generous, and others who want the triple lock to continue as it stands and will be prepared to wait a bit longer.
“This idea we’ve been talking about, if the state pension age keeps going up, allowing you to take it a little earlier, I think that gives people the choice and meets the needs of both those groups.”
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