Editorial: DWP should show courage on state pension reform

Arguably the most depressing statement to come out of Westminster last week was this tacit admission from Steve Webb that the government is wavering on state pension reform.

One of the biggest fanfares around the countless pension reforms shot out from the government since 2010 was the proposition for a significantly increased basic state pension of £140 a week for all. It would be funded by cuts in complicated and bureaucratic (and, crucially, unpopular) means-tested benefits.

The government consulted last year, offering a token alternative option of smaller, more staggered state pension increases, while making it adamantly clear the goal of a higher but flat-rate pension was what ministers wanted. And it seemed like the logical brainchild of the Department for Work amd Pensions ministerial team.

Webb came to office an outspoken opposition critic of the National Employment Savings Trust and auto-enrolment reforms to workplace saving he dismissed as "irrelevant" compared with what he believed was the far more important goal of a "liveable" state pension for all.

And it further tallied with work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith's much published views on the complexity and social damage of an overmighty means-tested benefits system.

Rumours have been flying out of parliament in recent weeks that this reform is heading for the political long grass, but Webb's answer (above) to a question by Labour's Yasmin Qureshi is a confirmation it is no longer a priority.

It would be a shame if this reform is sacrificed because the government feels it needs time and energy to fight through more controversial but less obviously right-minded policies.