Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what interest rate is applied to the arrears payments for women whose automatic pension uplifts were not applied as they should have been since 2008, and who are now receiving the back-dated amounts due.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Where underpayments are identified, the Department is contacting individuals to inform them of the changes to their State Pension amount and of any arrears payment they will receive in accordance with the law.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to contact all people aged over 80 who are receiving less than the basic State Pension of £82.45 per week, including those receiving no State Pension, so they can be paid their entitlement.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
We encourage everyone to apply for the support they are entitled to. Information on how to make a claim can be found on GOV.UK.
The correction activity, which started on 11 January 2021, is identifying people over age 80 who may have been underpaid Category D State Pension in accordance with the law.
The law, which has been in place under successive governments, is that anyone who is not getting any State Pension when they reach age 80, is required to make a claim to get Category D State Pension (Social Security Administration Act 1992 (Section 1)). There is information on how to make a claim on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have identified why the Pensions Service helpline has been giving incorrect advice to women whose State Pension payments were too low about the accuracy of their payments; and what steps they are taking to improve the quality of the advice offered by the helpline.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Department strives every day to deliver the highest possible customer service to millions of people we support.
It is not possible to comment on substantive assertions.
Department staff receive comprehensive training to ensure that they provide customers with accurate information. If a customer feels that we may have given inaccurate information, we will investigate this thoroughly.
The Department is delivering enhanced training for all staff dealing with State Pension cases and we have ensured that all staff, including our partner G4S, have updated lines to take when handling calls from customers.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase take-up of Pension Credit and reduce pensioner poverty, especially for older women.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
There are now 200,000 fewer pensioners in absolute poverty than in 2009/10. The percentage of women aged 75 and over in absolute poverty after housing costs fell from 18 per cent in 2009/10 to 15 per cent in 2019/20.
The Government is committed to continuing to reduce pensioner poverty and Pension Credit has an important role to play, as a source of financial support for all eligible pensioners.
Department of Work and Pension Ministers recently met with stakeholders with an interest in pensioners’ financial wellbeing and the Director General of the BBC to explore opportunities to work together to support the promotion of Pension Credit.
The department continues to make the best use of all our channels to reach those who might be eligible as well as their family and friends. For example, over 11 million pensioners in Great Britain recently received messaging about Pension Credit with their annual State Pension up-rating letter. This highlighted that an award of Pension Credit can mean being eligible for other benefits such as Housing Benefit or a free over-75 TV licence. We also make use of proactive press activity and social media posts to encourage older people to check if they are eligible.
Our online Pension Credit material on gov.uk has also recently being updated, providing helpful information on how Pension Credit can help pensioners and how easy it is to claim particularly with the online service we introduced last year which enables family, friends and organisations to help pensioners, including older women pensioners, make a claim.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they currently impose, or intend to impose, any penalties on (1) employers, (2) scheme trustees, (3) pension providers, or (4) employer advisers, if automatic enrolment scheme members are contributing to a pension scheme which is unsuitable for them.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The government keeps all aspects of private pensions policy under review but there are no current plans to change the regulatory framework.
Employers have a duty to enrol their workers in a workplace pension scheme that is a qualifying scheme for automatic enrolment in accordance with the requirements set out in the Pensions Act 2008.
An automatic enrolment scheme must meet certain quality requirements. This is underpinned by the wider regulatory framework for all occupational and group personal pension schemes which helps to safeguard members’ pensions. Compliance and enforcement of these standards is the responsibility of The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to protect members of workplace pension schemes whose employers have not selected a suitable scheme.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
As part of the introduction of automatic enrolment, requirements were put in place, under the Pensions Act 2008, to ensure that workplace pension schemes selected by an employer to meet their obligations satisfy certain quality and governance standards. The Pensions Regulator enforces employer compliance with the Automatic Enrolment duties.
The Government regularly undertakes public consultations on private pensions policy and encourages all interested parties, including scheme members to submit their views.
In 2020, the department undertook a review of the charge cap and accompanying Pensions Charges Survey. The review concluded that the current level of the charge cap remained appropriate at 0.75 per cent of funds under management within the default arrangement, or an equivalent combination charge.
On 24th May, the department launched a public consultation looking at Permitted Charges within DC Pensions. The consultation seeks views on a proposal to move to a universal charging structure within the charge cap to improve member comprehension of charges, and in turn better enable members to compare pension products if they wish. This consultation also confirms our intention to set a de Minimis on the charging of flats fees within the cap. This will help limit the erosion of small pots of £100 or less, where a flat fee is charged.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps members of workplace pension schemes can take if they consider their employer scheme charges are excessively high.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
As part of the introduction of automatic enrolment, requirements were put in place, under the Pensions Act 2008, to ensure that workplace pension schemes selected by an employer to meet their obligations satisfy certain quality and governance standards. The Pensions Regulator enforces employer compliance with the Automatic Enrolment duties.
The Government regularly undertakes public consultations on private pensions policy and encourages all interested parties, including scheme members to submit their views.
In 2020, the department undertook a review of the charge cap and accompanying Pensions Charges Survey. The review concluded that the current level of the charge cap remained appropriate at 0.75 per cent of funds under management within the default arrangement, or an equivalent combination charge.
On 24th May, the department launched a public consultation looking at Permitted Charges within DC Pensions. The consultation seeks views on a proposal to move to a universal charging structure within the charge cap to improve member comprehension of charges, and in turn better enable members to compare pension products if they wish. This consultation also confirms our intention to set a de Minimis on the charging of flats fees within the cap. This will help limit the erosion of small pots of £100 or less, where a flat fee is charged.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government where responsibility lies for the monitoring of pension scheme charges in automatic enrolment workplace schemes.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
As part of the introduction of automatic enrolment, requirements were put in place, under the Pensions Act 2008, to ensure that workplace pension schemes selected by an employer to meet their obligations satisfy certain quality and governance standards. The Pensions Regulator enforces employer compliance with the Automatic Enrolment duties.
The Government regularly undertakes public consultations on private pensions policy and encourages all interested parties, including scheme members to submit their views.
In 2020, the department undertook a review of the charge cap and accompanying Pensions Charges Survey. The review concluded that the current level of the charge cap remained appropriate at 0.75 per cent of funds under management within the default arrangement, or an equivalent combination charge.
On 24th May, the department launched a public consultation looking at Permitted Charges within DC Pensions. The consultation seeks views on a proposal to move to a universal charging structure within the charge cap to improve member comprehension of charges, and in turn better enable members to compare pension products if they wish. This consultation also confirms our intention to set a de Minimis on the charging of flats fees within the cap. This will help limit the erosion of small pots of £100 or less, where a flat fee is charged.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 27 April (HL14861), whether the statistics provided include those aged over 80 who received no State Pension; and, if not, as of March 2021 how many (1) women, and (2) men, living in the UK aged over 80 were receiving no State Pension.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
I can confirm that the figures provided in HL14861 only include those aged over 80 that are currently in receipt of a State Pension.
The Department does not hold the information to answer how many individuals are not in receipt of State Pension.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, over the age of 80 living in the UK received less than £80.45 a week in state pension in the past year.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
As of March 2021, there were 15,739 women, and 5,354 men living in the UK that were aged 80 or over and in receipt of a State Pension of less than £80.45.