Supplementary Pensions in Britain: Is there Still a Role for the State?

Abstract

On 5 March 1997, less than two months before losing power, the British Conservative Government gave its unequivocal answer to the question which is the title of this paper: a firm negative. Although entitled “Basic Pension Plus” (referred to below as BP+), the Government’s plan for future pensions policy amounted to a proposal to abolish state pensions in Britain — both the flat-rate basic pension and the earnings-related supplementary pension (SERPS).