Mr. Paul Johnson:

Most people will get the full contributory state pension. Certainly, going forward, almost everybody will get the full state pension. It is increasing. It is in principle contributory so long as the person has been in the country for, I think, 30 years. It is pretty hard to avoid - at least going forward it will be - getting the full pension. Time spent as a student, time spent looking after children, time spent sick or disabled and time spent unemployed count towards years of contributions, so, certainly going forward, pretty much only the idle rich or those who have spent a long time out of the country can avoid having a full pension.