The new Manx state pension will be introduced from April at a rate of £184.15 a week, the Treasury Minister told Tynwald.

Introduction of the flat rate single-tier pension won’t affect the 19,500 existing state pensioners.

But there are concerns longer-term that new retirees will lose out as the Manx pension supplement will be phased out over 20 years by 5% each year.

And with the ending of the second state pension, there will be some categories of employee who will forgo the additional benefits they would have accrued under the old system.

There will be transitional arrangements, however, to protect the rights already built up.

qualify

State pensioners will have to have paid National Insurance here for 35 years to qualify for the full amount.

The changes introduced under the new Manx State pension will affect people in different age groups differently, Mr Cannan said.

He told Tynwald: ’Some people who have accrued significant amounts of additional state pension up to April 5, 2019 may get more than this amount, whilst others who have been in contracted out employments for considerable periods of time will most likely get less than this amount.

’The officers from the Income Tax Division will be on standby to offer advice and guidance to those who need it.’

With the contracted-out rate of National Insurance ending from April 5, all workers in the island will start to contribute to the new Manx pension.

For employees who are currently in contracted out pension schemes this will mean a small increase in the amount of NI they contribute. This includes the majority of public servants who, from April, will incur an additional 1.6% increase in their NI contributions.

But Mr Cannan said that with these changes in place, the NI fund, which was predicted to run out in the 2050s, is now set to run until at least 2072 and possibly beyond.

The state pension age, currently 66, will rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

Mr Cannan said the basic state pension for those who have already retired will increase by 2.6% in line with the UK’s triple lock uprating.

For those with a full basic pension, this will mean an increase of £169 per year. The additional state pension will increase by 2.4% from April, in line with prices inflation. Overall, the cost of these increases in the island is estimated to be £3.7m a year.