Five things you didn’t know about the state pension

Think you know the notoriously complicated state pension system? Check out these facts to test your knowledge.

1) If the link between pensions and earnings had not been broken in 1980, the National Pensioner Convention calculates that the current basic state pension would be £161.30 per week today, instead of £97.65 per week.

2) The government plans to set the universal state pension at £140 or even £155 per week, but this is still under the DWP's official poverty line of £178 per week.

3) The current system is so complicated partly because there are currently more than 30 different pensioner benefits that can be claimed on top of the basic state pension. These include a Christmas bonus, help with court fees, and the age addition for the over 80s; a meagre 25p a week or £13.00 per year.

4) A £140 a week income is worth roughly £122,000 from a private provider. MetLife research says a 65-year-old man would need £122,000 to buy a fixed annuity of £7,280 or £195,000 to buy an inflation-linked annuity.

5) One in five men and one in ten women from the poorest section of society will die before they can draw the state pension, according to Labour party statistics, and four in ten men in their 60s are already unemployed. With the state pension age set to rise to 66 by 2020 and 68 by 2046, this proportion could increase.