A MAJOR row has broken out over the Scottish Government's plans for pensions in an independent Scotland.

SNP ministers yesterday unveiled proposals to match, or better, state pensions for existing and future pensioners if Scots vote Yes next year.

But their plans were dismissed by the UK Government which said there were "glaring gaps" - including the absence of overall costings - in a long-awaited Scottish Government paper.

According to the report, the existing basic state pension - estimated to be worth at least £118.60 by 2016/17 - would continue to be paid "on time and in full".

The Scottish Government also confirmed it would adopt the UK's new single tier pension for new pensioners from 2016. But it said it would pay £160 per week - £1.10 more than the estimated £158.90 in the UK.

It also pledged to increase the new pension in line with whichever was the higher of earnings, inflation or 2.5%, a guarantee known as the "triple lock". UK single tier pensions are due to rise in line with earnings, irrespective of inflation.

In another promise of better pensions for some people in an independent Scotland, the Scottish Government said it would retain savings credits, which top-up payments for those with a modest additional income. The UK Government plan to axe the credit, worth up to £27.89 for couples, for new OAPs from 2016.

The report confirmed a Scottish Government pledge, trailed at the weekend, to set up a commission to review UK Government plans to raise the pension age to 67 in 2026, several years earlier than originally proposed.

It also sought to reassure holders of occupational defined benefit pensions, after warnings that many UK-wide schemes would have to be split up if Scotland became independent. EU rules require cross border pensions to be fully funded, with sufficient assets to cover their liabilities, but the Scottish Government claimed the EU would allow UK-wide schemes to continue in deficit until they recovered financially.

The potential problem, said the report, "would be resolved by negotiating sensible transitional arrangements". An indepenent Scotland would create its own pensions regulator but follow a "pan-UK approach", partly in a bid to persuade other EU countries to bend the rules on cross-border schemes.

Unveiling the proposals at a sheltered housing complex in Glasgow, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "We can more than afford a decent pensions system that guarantees dignity for our older people. We will build on the current system and make improvements where necessary."

But speaking on behalf of the Better Together pro-UK campaign, Labour's pensions spokesman Gregg McClymont said: "Nicola Sturgeon couldn't say how much her pensions promise would cost despite asserting that it was affordable."

A UK Government spokesman said: "Nowhere in this paper is there a price tag for how much this new Scottish pensions system would cost people in Scotland."

ICAS, the body representing chartered accountants, called on the both governments to work with the European Commission to clarify the future of UK-wide occupational schemes.