Moves planned to ease women's pension fears

Ministers are planning moves to ease the pain on women in their 50s caused by the Government's decision to raise the age at which people qualify for the basic state pension.

MPs yesterday voted in favour of the proposals to equalise the state pension age for men and women at 65 in 2018 and to raise the qualifying age to 66 for both sexes two years later.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said he was "willing to work to get this transition right," adding: "I am quite happy to look at transitional arrangements. I don't rule out discussion."

Despite Mr Duncan Smith insistence that ministers were committed to the plans, his officials have started to look at other options in order to prevent women in their late 50s seeing their retirement plans disrupted by the change.

But the Treasury is insisting that any alternative proposal should not cost extra money, and one option is to bring forward the state pension age for both men and women.