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Written Question
State Retirement Pensions
Thursday 12th December 2024

Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the policy of increasing the State Pension by 25p per week for pensioners reaching the age of 80.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are no plans to review the current arrangements.

The 25 pence a week Age Addition is part of the old State Pension, for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016. It is paid with the basic State Pension, when somebody reaches the age of 80.

The Age Addition is not part of the new State Pension, but for those people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, the 25 pence Age Addition under the existing rules will continue.


Written Question
Incapacity Benefit
Monday 9th December 2024

Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of why the cost of incapacity-related benefit claims in the UK is rising faster than in other comparable countries.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department keeps abreast of the findings of research and analysis that covers different countries, for example that produced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. However, as a result of the time it takes to obtain and process data from different countries, the most recent trends will not necessarily be reflected in these sources. Once the latest data is available this will feed into policy development as appropriate.


Written Question
Pension Funds
Monday 9th December 2024

Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have learned any lessons from the investment strategies of successful major pension funds in other countries, including Canada, by analysing (1) what proportion of their funds were invested domestically; (2) which of the geographies in which they invested produced the highest annualised five-year net returns; and (3) what proportion of their funds were invested in infrastructure and real assets.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Phase One of the Pensions Investment Review closely considered international evidence from the Australian and Canadian pension systems. Evidence was particularly considered around the benefits of scale, asset allocations and consolidation. This was published in the Pension Investment Review and supplementary analytical document, available here:
Pensions Investment Review: interim report, consultations and evidence - GOV.UK

The analysis found:

i) 46% of Canadian pension assets and 55% of Australian pension assets are invested domestically, across all asset types.

ii) Information is not available on the exact geographies of all investments across all asset classes, nor the returns these have earned at geographical level.

iii) Canada allocates 11% of its assets to infrastructure and 13% to property. In Australia, it is estimated around 8% of its pension funds are invested in infrastructure and 7% in property.

iv) Australian pension schemes invest around 3 times more in infrastructure and 10 times more in private equity.