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Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Uprating
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the change in value of the full basic state pension weekly payment in 2023–24 if it had been linked only to consumer price index inflation since 2010.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The full weekly amount of basic State Pension would have been worth £139.10 in 2023-24 if it had been uprated by inflation (CPI) since 2010.


Written Question
National Insurance Contributions
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimates they have made, if any, of the cost savings that would result from increasing the minimum years of National Insurance contributions required for a full State Pension from 35 to 45.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

No such assessment has been made. The number of Qualifying Years required for a full State Pension strikes a balance between achieving wide coverage, maintaining the contributory principle and ensuring the overall affordability of the State Pension.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: National Insurance
Wednesday 20th September 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the savings to the Exchequer in total cost of paying UK State Pensions in 2023–24 if full state pensions for all newly retired individuals required a National Insurance record of 45 years instead of 35 years, assuming no purchase of additional voluntary years.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We have not made any estimate of the savings to the Exchequer of paying UK State Pensions in 2023–24 if a full state pension for all newly retired individuals required a National Insurance record of 45 years instead of 35 years. There are currently no plans to review the qualifying criteria for the new State Pension.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions
Wednesday 20th September 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the value of the full Basic State Pension weekly payment in 2023–24 would be if the pension had been tied only to average earnings since 2010, rather than the triple lock.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The full weekly amount of Basic State Pension would have been worth £138.05 in 2023-24 if it had been uprated by earnings, rather than the Triple Lock.


Written Question
Pension Credit
Tuesday 23rd May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what their latest estimate is of the take-up of Pension Credit in the past five years.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Estimates for Pension Credit take-up in a financial year are available in the “Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up” publication, which can be accessed on the statistics section of gov.uk. Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest estimates for Pension Credit take-up relate to the financial year 2019 to 2020. The table below outlines take-up estimates for this year, and the four years preceding:

Financial Year

Estimate of Pension Credit take-up

2019 to 2020

66%

2018 to 2019

63%

2017 to 2018

61%

2016 to 2017

61%

2015 to 2016

61%

Please note – methodological refinements have been applied to the data from 2016 to 2017. Therefore, comparison to previous years should be treated with caution.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Tuesday 9th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many claimants currently receiving Universal Credit who are in employment or self-employment are earning (1) under £12,570 a year, (2) between £12,571 and £25,000 a year, (3) between £25,001 and £35,000 a year, (4) between £35,001 and £50,000 a year, and (5) over £50,000 a year.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Universal Credit is designed to reduce as household earnings increase, so the number of high income households receiving UC would likely be very small. The level at which entitlement ends will differ depending on individual circumstances and other unearned income.

As earnings information is only available at household level this has been provided below

In January 2023 there were:

  • 2,610,500 households with no take home pay
  • 974,000 households with monthly take home pay between £0 - £1048
  • 662,500 households with monthly take home pay between £1048 - £2084
  • 121,600 households with monthly take home pay between £2084 - £2917
  • 29,400 households with monthly take home pay between £2917 - £4167
  • 1,300 households with monthly take home pay greater than £4167.

Notes:

  1. The figures provided are monthly equivalents of the annual incomes specified in the question.
  2. These figures have been rounded to the nearest 100

Written Question
Universal Credit
Thursday 4th May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many claimants currently receiving Universal Credit are (1) self-employed, (2) employed, and (3) unemployed.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The total number of self-employed Universal Credit claimants in January 2023 was 493,300. This has been rounded to the nearest 100.

The latest statistics published monthly on Stat-Xplore show that, from the 5.8 million people on Universal Credit in February 2023, 2.2 million were in employment and 3.6 million were not in employment.


Written Question
Workplace Pensions
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) men, and (2) women, who earn less than £12,570 in any one job, who are members of auto-enrolment workplace pension schemes which operate on a Net Pay basis.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP do not hold this data.

A policy paper has been published showing the number of people who save into an occupational pension under net pay arrangements whose taxable pay is below the personal allowance is estimated to be 1.2 million in 2026-27. In 2023/24, the Personal Allowance is £12,570.

Women are estimated to make up 75% of those earning below the personal allowance and contributing to a pension scheme that uses net pay arrangements. The 1.2 million can therefore be broken down into around 0.3 million men and 0.9 million women.

Notes:

  • These figures were produced for accrual in 2026-27 and the Personal Allowance at the time was not set to £12,570 in that tax year.
  • These figures look at total pay across jobs and less contributions to Net Pay Arrangements, so it is possible that someone with total earnings above the Personal Allowance is included because removing their Net Pay Arrangement contributions takes them below the Personal Allowance or someone earns less than the Personal Allowance in a single job but their pay across jobs takes them above the Personal Allowance.
  • These figures were produced for the Autumn Budget 2021 fiscal event using the 2018-19 SPI projected using Autumn Budget 2021 OBR determinants.
  • Further detail can be found at the source which is linked below.

Source: Pensions relief relating to net pay arrangements - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Written Question
Pension Credit: Applications
Wednesday 21st December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the waiting times for Pension Credit applicants.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

Following the successful launch of our campaign to increase up-take of Pension Credit, we have received an unprecedented number of claims. We have increased the resources available to process the extra volume of claims and have also adapted our claims processing approach, which has enabled us to improve productivity and clear claims more effectively.

We are now clearing more cases per day than we are receiving. We are also prioritising the oldest cases, and those presenting in hardship, to ensure we get payments to those most in need.

With these measures in place and, assuming the current volumes of new claims for Pension Credit, we anticipate that both processing times and outstanding cases will return to the levels we had before the recent three-fold increase in claims.

Successful claims and arrears will be paid accordingly to ensure all those who are entitled do not miss out.


Written Question
Pension Credit: Applications
Wednesday 21st December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many claims for Pension Credit have been waiting for more than (1) two, (2) three, (3) four, (4) five, and (5) six, months for approval; and what percentage of applications this comprises.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott

This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work & Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.