The new state pension: Five things you need to know about the changes

The changes come into effect next April, and will affect people who reach state pension age on or after that date

Is the system changing?

There will be a new state pension scheme from next April, and it will affect people who reach state pension age on or after that date – in short, men born on or after 6 April 1951 and women born on or after 6 April 1953.

Will people be better off?

Some will end up much worse off. Those with less than 10 years of national insurance contributions, for example, will no longer receive any state pension, and people will no longer be able to count on a percentage of their spouse's pension after their death. And women born in the 1950s could face a much worse retirement than they had expected.

Why are women facing pension problems?

The acceleration in the increase in the state pension age, and the lack of time given to women so they could make different plans for their retirement, has caused the problems. The campaigning group Women Against State Pension Inequality has been is petitioning the Government to reverse the decision at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/110776.

Hit particularly hard are around 700,000 women born between 1951 and 1953 who will end up with a smaller state pension than men of the same age from next April – because of what amounts to a birthdate lottery. Ridiculously, it has left them ineligible for the new single-tier pension.

That's scandalous. Does everyone know?

Probably not, which is why a committee of MPs this week launched an investigation into the new state pension. They're concerned that many of those affected don't know what the changes will mean for their pensions. Committee chair Frank Field pointed out: "There is a group of women born between 1951 and 1953 who feel particularly aggrieved by the way they are affected by the transition."

What are they going to do about it?

The committee has invited written evidence on the problems that people are facing in understanding the changes. Comments must be added to the website at bit.ly/1HdWh5s by 30 November.