Labour pension plans include:
• abandoning current plans to raise the State Pension Age, currently planned to rise to 67 from 2026
• reviewing retirement ages for ‘for physically arduous and stressful occupations, including shift workers, in the public and private sectors.
• retaining the pensions Triple Lock
• Ensuring the pensions of UK citizens overseas rise in line with pensions in Britain
On capping the State Pension Age of retirement to 66 the Labour manifesto says: “The Conservatives have repeatedly raised the state pension age despite overseeing a decline in life expectancy.”
Labour also plans sweeping changes to auto-enrolment to boost its role in the workplace.
The manifesto says: “Too many people are still not saving enough for a comfortable retirement.”
Labour plans to stop people being auto-enrolled into what is calls ‘rip-off schemes’ and will widen and expand access for more low-income and self-employed workers.
Other Labour plans for the pension sector include an independent Pensions’ Commission, modelled on the Low Pay Commission, to ‘recommend target levels for workplace pensions.’
Labour has also backed a ‘publicly-run’ Pensions Dashboard and says it will ensure the dashbroad is “fully transparent, including information about costs and charges.”
The party will also guarantee the Winter Fuel Payment, free TV licences and free bus passes as universal benefits.
Other Labour Manifesto plans include a tax on second homes, scrapping inheritance tax cuts, VAT on private school fees, and free personal home care in England for over-65s most in need. In terms of tax Labour says those on more than £80,000 a year will pay "a little more income tax" while National Insurance and income tax rates for everyone else will be frozen.
The Conservative Party will be announcing its manifesto shortly. The LibDems have already published theirs.
Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, said Labour was leading the pack so far on State Pensions generosity.
He said: "Keeping the state pension age at 66, cancelling the planned increase to age 67 and considering allowing earlier access to those in physically arduous or stressful occupations will be welcomed by those concerned over their ability to keep working longer and who lack sufficient workplace or private pensions to allow them to choose to retire before state pension age."
Helen Morrissey, pension specialist at Royal London, said: "Labour has issued an ambitious series of pension commitments in its manifesto. Some, such as the pledge to improve access to pensions for those on low incomes and the self-employed should be congratulated as should the pledge to establish an independent Pension Commission to plot a way forward for increased minimum pension contributions.
"However, others, such as the pledge to leave the State Pension Age at 66 and to compensate the 1950s women are likely to cost many billions of pounds and with no money set aside to meet these commitments it will be difficult to see how they can be funded. In addition, paying state pensions at a different age based on doing heavy jobs would be extremely difficult to implement in practice as there are no records of what job people were doing, and defining what counts and does not count as heavy work would be very difficult in practice.”
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