Pensions Revaluation

Nothing to see here, not new, move on.

From the budget : On page 34 of the red book published around 22 ish June

1.106 The Government will use the CPI for the price indexation of
benefits and tax credits from April 2011. The CPI provides a more
appropriate measure of benefit and pension recipients’ inflation experiences
than RPI, because it excludes the majority of housing costs faced by
homeowners (low income households are subsidised separately through
Housing Benefit, and the majority of pensioners own their home outright),
and differences in calculation mean it may be considered a better
representation of the way consumers change their consumption patterns in
response to price changes. This will also ensure consistency with the measure
of inflation used by the Bank of England. This change will also apply to
public service pensions through the statutory link to the indexation
of the Second State Pension. The Government is also reviewing how
the CPI can be used for the indexation of taxes and duties while
protecting revenues.

So, State Pensions will be increased by CPI rather than RPI.

Yes, CPI is less than RPI. Generally speaking the RPI includes the cost of housing - mortgages etc and council tax.
If you are a pensioner paying rent or a mortgage, over a 10 year period you might be slightly worse off.

As at July 2010, CPI is 1.7% less than RPI - meaning a difference of £1.62 per week for a single person on the basic state pension.
This is a lot to someone on £95 a week.

Remember that someone who gets that will also get income support etc.

One real question is, what is the rate of inflation for Pensioners?

This is a good one, and I think you can argue CPI is more appropriate.

Another real question is will this encourage private pension provision?

No.

Lets be honest, this is just a way of reducing the cost of public pension provision. Nothing too wrong about that in itself, but they could be more open about the impact.