Asked by: Lord Watts (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish an assessment of the likely effect of the change to pensions announced in the 2014 Budget on the budget for welfare payments over the next ten years.
Answered by Steve Webb
The impact on welfare spending will depend on how people choose to use their savings; the choices people make may increase or decrease the likelihood of them being eligible for means tested benefits at some point in their retirement. However we are talking about people who have saved for their future and therefore we would expect the numbers choosing to rely solely on welfare benefits to be small.
The introduction of the single-tier pension also means that the majority of people will have a state pension income above the basic means test.
The details of the policy and the guidance offer are being developed and we are consulting on this.