This Briefing Note describes state pension provision in the United Kingdom from the inception of the basic state pension in 1948, following the Beveridge Report, to Pensions Act 2007 and the plans of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government.

This article looks at changes to public sector pensions, now and in the future.

This paper looks at the value of pension rights in the context of the Teachers' Pension Scheme.

In this book, leading economists analyze topical issues in pension policy.

An RES conference paper.

We describe the trajectory of pension reform in the United Kingdom.

The Government's Stakeholder Pension reform has improved incentives for some groups to save in private pensions, and this has offset a general downwards trend in private pension coverage.

This paper analyses the thrust of the UK Government's pension reforms in the context of the system they inherited.

This briefing note looks at the interaction of the tax and benefit system with stakeholder pensions. In particular, it asks how, in the light of recent reforms to the system of state pension provision, the welfare system differentially affects the incentive to invest in a stakeholder scheme for various groups in the population.

This paper examines the choice of pension scheme and job mobility in Britain.

In Autumn 2001, the government finalised its proposals for the introduction of the Pension Credit in 2003. Since the initial plans, the Government has significantly changed the way in which pensioners' savings will be treated by the new benefit, and has also decided to couple the reform to significant increases in the generosity of housing benefit for pensioners. This paper updates earlier IFS research evaluating these modified proposals, asking who is likely to gain, and assessing the likely effect on pensioner poverty, on savings incentives and on the public finances. We conclude that modifications to the reform leave the policy better able to reward saving and fitting in better with the rest of UK pension policy. In the longer-term, however, there large questions about the eventual cost and effects of the reform that remain unanswered.

In the November 2000 Pre-Budget Report, the government announced a major range of measures for pensioners. Some come into operation in April 2001, while others follow in 2002 and 2003. The most important aspects of the package comprised: above-inflation increases in the retirement pension; substantially above-inflation increases in the means-tested minimum income guarantee (MIG); and the introduction of a new element into the means-tested benefit system for pensioners, known as the pension credit. Overall, the package means the government will pay over £4 billion a year extra to pensioners (2000 prices) by 2003–04. It represents a very substantial redistribution in favour of pensioners, and particularly those on low incomes.

Using data from the Family Expenditure Survey we show that the abolition of the earnings rule in the UK increased the number of hours worked by men.

This paper surveys the issue of public spending on pensions.

The UK government is planning to introduce stakeholder pensions from April 2001 as an alternative to existing personal pensions for people on moderate earnings.