Publishing a report as part of its pre-legislative scrutiny of the UK's single-tier state pension reforms, the Work and Pensions Select Committee also noted that the revised timetable would "place even more pressure" on the department to develop its defined ambition proposals.
The Committee was critical of Chancellor George Osborne's announcement in mid-March that the government would bring forward the launch of the new state pension to April 2016 – in line with plans when the state pension white paper was first published in 2011 – saying it was hampered in its work after being kept in the dark about the change.
In the final report, the committee noted that the new date was announced a week after its last evidence session with Pensions Minister Steve Webb had taken place, meaning it was not possible to solicit the industry's views about the impact of a "major" policy shift.
Committee Chairman Dame Anne Begg was more forceful in her criticism, noting that the process of pre-legislative examination was "vital" to allow for rigorous and effective scrutiny.
"I am disappointed that the government has hampered us in carrying out this task, by giving us very little time to do it, due to the delays in its own timetable for publishing the proposals, and then making a major change to the policy at a very late stage", she said.
Full article (IPE subscription required)
© IPE International Publishers Ltd.
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article