Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Paul Maynard and Rob Roberts

Monday 5th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rob Roberts (Delyn) (Ind)]

14. What recent assessment he has made of the potential cost of restoring parity in the level of state pension received by UK citizens living overseas.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Paul Maynard)]

According to the latest estimate, based on data from March 2022, uprating the state pension where we do not currently do so would cost about £0.9 billion a year if all UK state pensions in payment were increased to current UK levels.

[Mr Roberts]

Following our withdrawal from the EU, we are rightly able to move closer to our partners in the Commonwealth. One way in which we could do that would be to confirm that all British citizens who live in the Commonwealth should be entitled to the appropriate uprating of their state pensions as if they were still in the UK. That would seem to be a matter of simple fairness. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the practicalities of making it happen, and restoring some much-needed common sense to a needlessly complicated situation?