Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pension schemes have entered the Financial Assistance Scheme; and for what proportion of (1) schemes, and (2) scheme members, does the Pension Protection Fund have definitive copies of the original scheme's trust deed and rules in relation to pre-1997 pension increases.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 16 December 2025, 1,045 schemes have transferred into the Financial Assistance Scheme.
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) holds a significant amount of scheme information. We are confident that the PPF will be able to identify the information needed and successfully implement the reforms to award pre-97 indexation uplifts to compensation payments.
The PPF is reviewing the information it holds for each scheme. Alongside scheme rules, the PPF will use additional data sources, including scheme return data, member booklets, data provided on transfer, valuation reports, annuity reports, and bulk buyout schedules.
Where the position is unclear, the clauses within the Pension Schemes Bill provide that the presumption is in favour of the members. In such cases, the PPF will award pre-97 indexation.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment it has made of the level of investments by open UK defined benefit schemes, including the Parliamentary Pension Scheme, into UK equities.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Private sector defined benefit (DB) pension schemes which are open to new members allocate 42% of their assets to equities. However, this is not broken down by UK equities. See the PPF Purple Book for further detail: https://www.ppf.co.uk/-/media/PPF-Website/Public/Purple-Book-Data-2025/Pension-Protection-Fund-Purple-Book-2025-accessible.pdf
Public sector DB pension schemes are estimated to allocate around 9% of their assets to listed UK equities. See the Pension Policy Institute’s 2025 “Pension scheme assets” report: https://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/media/i2cgonin/20250604-pension-scheme-assets-2025-final.pdf
The scheme trustees are responsible for the investment strategy of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund and information on asset allocation is published in the scheme’s Annual Report and Accounts. These are published on the website of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority www.theipsa.org.uk/annual-reports.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average processing time for Attendance Allowance.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For the 2024/25 financial year to date (1 April 2024 to 31 January 2025) the average processing time for Attendance Allowance is 19 working days (with Monday to Friday being defined as working days). There is a quick application process for people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and aren't expected to live more than 12 months. These claims are fast tracked.
Attendance Allowance is currently undergoing a significant modernisation reform through the piloting of an on-line digital claim process as a part of the department’s wider Service Modernisation plans.
Please note, the Average Actual Clearance Time figures shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It is rounded to the nearest working day.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made in bringing together the administration of Pension Credit and Housing Benefit.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We remain committed to meeting the Chancellor’s commitment to bringing together the administration of Pension Credit and pensioner Housing Benefit. We are seeking to do this in a way that best meets the needs of current and future pensioners.
The Department is working closely with local authorities and undertaking detailed policy exploration to ensure that the best approach is identified.
Alongside this work, we are improving our use of established data streams to target new pensioner Housing Benefit customers to ensure that they are prompted to claim and receive any Pension Credit to which they are entitled. As part of this initiative, we have successfully sent out 1,000 letters to citizens, encouraging them to make a claim for Pension Credit.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there are any requirements to inform low-paid workers that they will pay 25 per cent more for their employer’s pension than they would if their employer auto-enrolled them into a pension fund with relief at source administration; and, if so, whose responsibility it is to inform them.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Employers are responsible for choosing a workplace pension scheme for their qualifying employees under the automatic enrolment framework.
The Pensions Regulator provides guidance for employers about how to comply with their automatic enrolment duties, including the information they must share with eligible employees.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether simpler pension fund statements are being produced and sent to clients by all pension providers as required.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
From October 2022, new requirements were introduced for schemes used for automatic enrolment to provide a simpler annual benefit statement. The Department continues to work with the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator to ensure compliance. Additionally, the Department plans to monitor/review the regulations within 5 years of being introduced as per the regulations (Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) (Statements of Benefits: Money Purchase Benefits) (Amendment) Regulations 2021)).
The Department publishes annual official statistics on workplace pension participation and saving trends. This provides estimates on the total amount saved into workplace pensions for those eligible for Automatic Enrolment, which was over £131bn in 2023. The table below holds the estimates of the total amount saved over the last 5 years, in 2023 earnings terms, which are also found in the official statistics noted above. As requested, the breakdowns by DB and DC schemes and other/unknown are also shown.
(£ Billions) in 2023 earnings terms | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Defined Contribution (DC) | 49.3 | 49.9 | 53.8 | 55.7 | 60.8 |
Defined Benefit (DB) | 63.8 | 68.6 | 72.5 | 64.8 | 65.8 |
Other/Unknown | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 5.2 |
Total | 114.6 | 120.5 | 128.7 | 122.8 | 131.8 |
Notes: Estimates of amounts saved into workplace pensions are derived from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data. The saving attributed to ‘other/unknown’ is a result of respondents answering ‘unknown’ or failing to answer when asking what their workplace pension scheme type was, despite reporting a positive value of pension saving.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total contributions into (1) defined contribution, (2) defined benefit, and (3) other, pension schemes for the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
From October 2022, new requirements were introduced for schemes used for automatic enrolment to provide a simpler annual benefit statement. The Department continues to work with the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator to ensure compliance. Additionally, the Department plans to monitor/review the regulations within 5 years of being introduced as per the regulations (Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) (Statements of Benefits: Money Purchase Benefits) (Amendment) Regulations 2021)).
The Department publishes annual official statistics on workplace pension participation and saving trends. This provides estimates on the total amount saved into workplace pensions for those eligible for Automatic Enrolment, which was over £131bn in 2023. The table below holds the estimates of the total amount saved over the last 5 years, in 2023 earnings terms, which are also found in the official statistics noted above. As requested, the breakdowns by DB and DC schemes and other/unknown are also shown.
(£ Billions) in 2023 earnings terms | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Defined Contribution (DC) | 49.3 | 49.9 | 53.8 | 55.7 | 60.8 |
Defined Benefit (DB) | 63.8 | 68.6 | 72.5 | 64.8 | 65.8 |
Other/Unknown | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 5.2 |
Total | 114.6 | 120.5 | 128.7 | 122.8 | 131.8 |
Notes: Estimates of amounts saved into workplace pensions are derived from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data. The saving attributed to ‘other/unknown’ is a result of respondents answering ‘unknown’ or failing to answer when asking what their workplace pension scheme type was, despite reporting a positive value of pension saving.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the policy of the Pensions Regulator for using the term "gender" in place of the Equality Act 2010's terms of (1) "sex", and (2) "gender reassignment" in its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR’s) strategy is wide-ranging, to ensure that it is fully inclusive and includes groups beyond the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, that encompass sex and gender reassignment. TPR uses ‘gender’ as was defined by the Office of National Statistics at the time the strategy was published, and will review their EDI Policy at the point of strategy refresh or when ONS issue new guidance, if earlier.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average total income of Pension Credit recipients, including all additional passported benefits.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made as the requested information is not available.
The Pensioners' Incomes series provides figures on how much income pensioners get each week and where they get that income from, but does not include all passported benefits. More information on the Pensioners’ Incomes series can be found on Gov.uk.
Pensioners' Incomes: financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pensioner households they estimate will be eligible but not receiving Pension Credit by January 2025.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made.
Estimates for pensioner households who are eligible for but not receiving Pension Credit in 2022/23 are available on Gov.uk.
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)