Government pilots combined pensions statements

The government is piloting a new pensions statement which sets out an individual's estimated income in retirement by adding estimates of both state and private pension provision.

Two hundred have been produced in a joint pilot exercise between the Department of Social Security (DSS) and the Prudential, one of the main providers of personal pensions.

Social security secretary Alastair Darling said: "The new pension statement will set out in black and white exactly how much someone will get when they retire. They will see how much pension they have built up and - crucially - how much more they can get if they save more.

"Individual pension statements, giving simple, clear and understandable information, will play a key role in reminding people of the importance of saving for retirement."

The DSS is currently working with a number of other organisations on pilots for the delivery of annual combined pensions statements, including NPI, Sainsburys, EMAP and AXA/Sunlife. It I hoped that up to 15 million working people will be receiving combined annual pensions statements by 2005.