Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what duties the trustees of non-associated multi-employer pension schemes have to employers contributing to the scheme; and whether all such employers have a right to be consulted when trustees grant apportionment arrangements to departing employers.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The employer debt legislation (section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Occupational Pension Schemes (Employer Debt) Regulations 2005) sets out the requirements on departing employers where any shortfall between liabilities and assets in a Defined Benefit pension scheme is treated as due.
Trustees of all occupational pension schemes including non-associated multi-employer pension schemes have a duty to employers contributing to the scheme to ensure that the scheme is correctly administered in accordance with its rules and that the promised benefits are paid. Where a restructuring event takes place, trustees are required to consult the exiting employer and receiving employer about the likelihood of the receiving employer being able to meet all the exiting employer’s liabilities in relation to the scheme. The trustees must also notify the exiting and receiving employer (in writing) of their decision as to whether they consider the receiving employer capable of meeting all the exiting employer’s liabilities to the scheme.
Whilst there is no general requirement for trustees to consult employers when granting apportionment arrangements to departing employers, the Occupational Pension Schemes (Employer Debt) Regulations 2005 require the consent of employers within the scheme when trustees grant Regulated Apportionment Arrangements, Scheme Apportionment Arrangements and Flexible Apportionment Arrangements to departing employers.
The Government’s Green and subsequent White Paper on Defined Benefit pension schemes looked very closely at this issue and considered carefully what could be done to relieve the pressure some employers face from their obligation to pay an employer debt.
The White Paper concluded that the existing arrangements in legislation, along with the deferred debt arrangement introduced in April 2018, provide enough flexibility for employers to manage their employer debts and the current “full-buyout” calculation method is the most secure and effective way of protecting members and remaining employers in a multi-employer scheme.
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 ensure that the pensions industry routinely checks for auto-enrolment contribution data errors; and whether they receive reports from (1) pension providers, (2) employers, and (3) payroll operators, which verify the accuracy of such contributions.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Successive governments have put in place a robust, proportionate, compliance framework for automatic enrolment, which is administered by The Pensions Regulator, and includes detailed regulatory guidance about how to comply with the law.
In addition, employers and their pension scheme trustees, managers and providers must keep certain records including details of the pension contributions payable in each relevant pay reference period by an employer to the pension scheme, and the amounts payable. This includes the contributions due on the employer’s behalf and deductions made from an individual’s earnings towards automatic enrolment.
The Pensions Regulator has published codes of practice on its website setting out how trustees of trust based defined contribution pension schemes and managers of contract based defined contribution pension schemes should monitor the payment of contributions, provide information to help members check their contributions and report material payment failures to The Pensions Regulator.
The Pensions Regulator receives payment failure reports from pension providers, but these do not necessarily represent data errors. While The Pensions Regulator does not hold statistics on contribution data errors, the regulatory regime is designed so that errors can be identified and material failures can be reported. The Pensions Regulator can then require restitution and, where necessary, make use of its enforcement powers.
The Pensions Regulator publishes regular assessments of its automatic enrolment compliance and enforcement activities as well as an annual commentary and analysis report, both of which are available on its website.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the (1) total number, and (2) percentage, of pensioners who had an annual income above £50,000 in each of the last three years, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Data on pensioners’ incomes at the breakdowns requested are not available.
Data on estimates of the levels, sources and distribution of pensioners’ incomes can be found on the government website www.gov.uk.
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 ensure that the Pensions Regulator makes pension schemes regularly reconcile and report on the accuracy of auto-enrolment pensions data.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Automatic Enrolment into workplace pensions is working. It has transformed pension saving for millions of today’s workers. It has reversed the decline in workplace pension saving seen in the decade prior to its introduction. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012, workplace participation has increased among eligible employees from a low of 55 per cent in 2012 to 87 per cent in 2018. The Government has put in place a robust, proportionate compliance framework. This is administered by The Pensions Regulator, and includes detailed regulatory guidance about how to comply with the law. An employer is required to select a qualifying pension scheme; enrol qualifying staff into that scheme, and deduct any contributions payable under Automatic Enrolment.
The Pensions Regulator’s priorities are contained in their corporate plan 2019-22 and include; providing clarity, enforcing the high standards of trusteeship, governance and administration they expect.
Qualifying pension schemes for Automatic Enrolment are subject to the regulatory framework overseen by The Pensions Regulator in respect of payment and accuracy of contributions. The Regulator has published codes of practice on its website setting out how trustees of defined contribution pension schemes and managers of personal pension schemes should monitor the payment of contributions; provide information to help members check their contributions; and report material payment failures to the Regulator.
The regulatory regime is designed so that errors can be identified and material failures can be reported, the Regulator can then require restitution; and, where necessary, make use of its enforcement powers. The Government keeps all aspects of automatic enrolment under regular review but has no plans to make changes to the compliance framework at this time.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what evidence and statistics they hold in relation to automatic enrolment pension contribution data errors.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
I refer the noble Baroness to my answer of 12th November 2018.
Employers, trustees, managers and providers must keep certain records including details of the pension contributions payable in each relevant pay reference period by an employer to the scheme, and the amount payable. This includes the contributions due on the employer’s behalf and deductions made from an individual’s earnings.
The Pensions Regulator has published codes of practice on its website setting out how trustees of defined contribution pension schemes and managers of personal pension schemes should monitor the payment of contributions, provide information to help members check their contributions and report material payment failures to The Pensions Regulator. However, The Pensions Regulator does not hold statistics on contribution data errors. The Pensions Regulator have payment failure reports from pension providers but these do not necessarily represent data errors.
In addition, The Pensions Regulator publishes regular assessments of its automatic enrolment compliance and enforcement activities as well as an annual commentary and analysis report, both of which are available on its website.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many downloads of the Pensions Regulator assessment calculation spreadsheet there have been in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We interpret the question to be referring to the Basic Assessment Tool spreadsheet data, which started in September 2015.
From 2015 to the end of 2018, the Pensions Regulator’s Basic Assessment Tool was downloaded a total of 6,776 times. The table below provides a breakdown of downloads in each year.
Year | Downloads |
2015 | 74 |
2016 | 4176 |
2017 | 2268 |
2018 | 258 |
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many families with children were receiving Bereavement Benefit or Bereavement Support Payments in (1) 2015–16, (2) 2016–17, and (3) 2017–18; and how many such families are estimated to receive payments in (a) 2018–19, and (b) 2019–20.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The latest available information is given below.
Widowed Parents Allowance recipients with dependants by Quarter, Feb 15 to Aug 18
|
|
|
| WPA with dependants | |
|
| |
Feb-15 | 44,949 | |
May-15 | 45,589 | |
Aug-15 | 43,667 | |
Nov-15 | 43,206 | |
Feb-16 | 44,350 | |
May-16 | 45,411 | |
Aug-16 | 44,767 | |
Nov-16 | 42,554 | |
Feb-17 | 43,884 | |
May-17 | 44,138 | |
Aug-17 | 39,164 | |
Nov-17 | 38,751 | |
Feb-18 | 38,158 | |
Aug-18 | 34,254 | |
Source: Department for Work and Pensions
Notes:
Bereavement Support Payment claims in payment by rate of BSP and month, April 2017 to September 2018
|
| Rate of BSP | |
| Total | Standard Rate | Higher Rate |
|
|
|
|
Apr-17 | 2,240 | 1,880 | 360 |
May-17 | 5,120 | 4,210 | 910 |
Jun-17 | 7,850 | 6,470 | 1,390 |
Jul-17 | 10,700 | 8,800 | 1,910 |
Aug-17 | 13,500 | 11,120 | 2,370 |
Sep-17 | 16,270 | 13,430 | 2,840 |
Oct-17 | 19,270 | 15,940 | 3,330 |
Nov-17 | 22,250 | 18,450 | 3,800 |
Dec-17 | 25,440 | 21,160 | 4,280 |
Jan-18 | 28,870 | 24,000 | 4,870 |
Feb-18 | 31,860 | 26,520 | 5,340 |
Mar-18 | 34,970 | 29,120 | 5,850 |
Apr-18 | 37,940 | 31,650 | 6,380 |
May-18 | 40,960 | 34,030 | 6,930 |
Jun-18 | 43,860 | 36,410 | 7,450 |
Jul-18 | 46,870 | 38,900 | 7,970 |
Aug-18 | 49,870 | 41,390 | 8,480 |
Sep-18 | 52,730 | 43,740 | 8,990 |
|
|
|
|
Source: Clerical administrative data
Notes:
Forecasted figures broken down to the level requested are not readily available, and to provide them would incur disproportionate costs. However, the figures available at a broader level are presented below.
Caseload information by Bereavement benefits
Bereavement related benefits caseload | 2018/19 Forecast (in thousands) | 2019/20 Forecast (in thousands) |
Bereavement Allowance (previously widow's Pension) | 103 | 98 |
of which working age | 103 | 98 |
of which pensioners | - | - |
|
|
|
Bereavement Support Payment | 49 | 55 |
of which higher rate | 8 | 9 |
of which lower rate | 41 | 46 |
Bereavement benefits & Widow's benefits | 54 | 43 |
Notes:
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place to ensure the pensions industry routinely checks for auto-enrolment contribution data errors; and what reporting they require from (1) pension providers, (2) employers, and (3) payroll operators to verify the accuracy of contributions.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
I refer the noble Baroness to my answers of 7 January 2019 and 18 December 2018. The regulatory regime is designed so that errors can be identified and material failures can be reported. The Pensions Regulator can then require restitution; and, where necessary, make use of its enforcement powers.
The Government keeps all aspects of automatic enrolment under regular review but has no plans to make changes to the compliance framework at this time.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the monthly estimates of new claims to Universal Credit through natural migration before July 2020.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We cannot predict precisely when a claimant’s circumstances will change as this will be due to a significant change of circumstances that would have caused a new claim to be made to a different legacy benefit. Claimants cannot make a claim to legacy benefits, as these have been replaced by Universal Credit, with national roll-out completed last month.
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 engage with (1) disabled people, and (2) organisations representing disabled people about the accessibility needs of those undertaking managed migration as part of the move to Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We are working closely with stakeholders and other parties to design the best possible process for the migration of all of our customers, including those with disabilities, to Universal Credit. Our focus will be on safeguarding claimants and ensuring a smooth transition with uninterrupted support. We will have a comprehensive and well-supported preparation period for claimants.
This will include a variety of communication formats, including face-to-face, internet and postal notification, to ensure claimants are aware of the managed migration process. There is flexibility to extend that period if necessary for claimants; and a process to ensure that, before the existing benefits are stopped, our staff will check for evidence of complex needs or vulnerability or disability and act accordingly to support the claimant.
We have agreed to explore options for improving the process of consent in collaboration with the Social Security Advisory Committee’s to consider how current practices could be enhanced, and we will publish a report on our joint conclusions.