1.5m hard-working pensioners penalised by new £140 state pension

Those who have paid into the second state pension (S2P, formerly known as Serps) would have ended up with more money than the £140 a week expected to be offered by the new scheme. These payments are based on your National Insurance contributions and level of earnings as an employee.

When Serps was replaced by S2P in 2002, it was changed to benefit lower and moderate earners and to extend access to carers. However, existing Serps entitlement was protected. It is not yet known what will happen to those who have accrued Serps and S2P entitlement under the new rules.

It is also not yet clear what will happen to those who 'contracted out' of Serps, and have therefore paid lower National Insurance contributions and put the extra into a personal pension.

More than 1.5 million pensioners receive a state pension of at least £150 a week, of whom 601,000 are female and 976,000 are men, the Department for Work & Pensions said last year.