Steve Webb grasps the pensions' nettle
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"I have four children, and I feel sorry for the people who are between 35 and 50 because they'll never have what my family have had, or what I've been able to have before I've hit the squeeze."
This pensioner in Dunster in Somerset hit the nail on the head when it comes to state pension reform - which is being thought through by our very own Steve Webb MP for Thornbury and Yate, and now Minister for Pensions.
An unenviable task if ever there was one. The nettle he has to grasp is that because we're all living longer, we're all going to have to work longer.
State pensions are paid from current tax revenue, so the coalition wants to raise the retirement age for everyone.
For women, it'll speed up the process so it rises to 65 by 2018, and 66 by 2020.
This could particularly affect those now aged 57: their retirement could keep slipping out of their grasp, while those a few years older can book the cruise they've always wanted.
As pensions expert Tom McPhail from investment firm Hargreaves Lansdowne told us: "We may see the state pension age for women very rapidly increasing from 63 to 65 around 2016 to 2018.
"So women around 57 now, who suddenly find the state pension age goes up faster, and people around them, have very different pension ages as it get stretched out."
On the other side of the coin, women could do significantly better out of state pension reform.
It's been reported that everyone could get a flat rate pension of about £140 a week.
This would be regardless of what savings you have, so no more means-testing for top up credits, and regardless of what national insurance contributions you've paid into the pot.
This idea gets a cautious welcome from women's groups.
"It means women will be recognised as full citizens who are deserving of an equal pension - women who've spent a large proportion of their lives juggling childcare and elder care with work - often low-paid work," says Helen Mott, from the Bristol Fawcett Society.
The government says it wants to deliver better pensions and make them easier to get.
Steve Webb is working on a discussion paper, which should make interesting reading - particularly for women.
I'm Paul Barltrop, Political Editor for the West of England. Pop by for my thoughts on what our politicians are up to. 
Comment number 1.
At 22:36 16th Jul 2011, citizenxyz wrote:From what I've read about the UK pension system, it's a mainly non-contributory system, always frightened once the costs become obvious. Recent reforms have shifted toward a universal flat-rate benefit, abandoning any apparent social insurance design, which make people distrust it: https://www.financialcrisisforum.org/forum/Personal-Finance/Can-you-trust-pensions-in-the-UK-344279.htm
This confirms that the main objective of the UK state pension system is to reduce poverty at old age. These flat-rate pensions will also reduce the reliance of the system on means-tested benefits. It's quite unfortunate that the latest reforms have still sought to maintain much of the complex structure of the pre-existing system instead of reforming and rationalising it. However, once issues of transition have been dealt with, there may yet be scope for simplifying the presentation of the rules.
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