State pension reform: stirring up a hornet's nest?

In September, Prime Minister David Cameron personally waded into the debate on a universal flat-rate state pension, calling for a rethink to prevent alienating older voters. A report in the Financial Times revealed the PM was concerned there could be a backlash over a second so-called ‘granny tax’. Despite this intervention, pensions minister Steve Webb has held firm that the government is still going ahead with the flat-rate. But Webb has also hinted the paper will not be the final word on the reform. He has described it as a “minty” paper, sitting somewhere between a green and whit...