“It has also allowed women to significantly close the gender gap, although this isn’t all good news, because the increase for women has been accompanied by a cut for men – who claim an average of £175.84 in new state pension per week compared to £178.60 under the basic system.
“The playing field is levelling off though it’s important to add that not everyone gets a full state pension and there are still 1.8 million people receiving less than £100 per week.”
The financial expert also urged pensioners on low incomes to see if they can get extra support from the Government.
She pointed to the latest figures showing there were 44,000 fewer claimants of Pension Credit this month compared to the same period last year.
Ms Morrissey said: “This could be down to more people retiring under the new state pension system but it’s clear there are still many people out there who could be receiving this valuable benefit who aren’t, and we await data showing whether the Government’s drive to increase take up has been successful or not.
