100 years of State pensions

As we celebrate the centenary of the State pension, has it done its job of lifting pensioners out of poverty?

This year marks the centenary of the State pension, with many men and women collecting their five shillings a week for the first time in January 1909. The idea of a universal old-age pension was initially touted in the French Revolution and Germany was the first country to introduce such a system almost 100 years later. Various trade unionists, social reformers and philanthropists joined forces to create such a safety net in Britain, with many older people then forced to rely on charity or family to avoid the workhouse. In the early years of the last century, almost a fifth of the populat...