Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending spousal pension rights to long term cohabitees.

The legislative framework governing pension rights for spouses and civil partners applies to legacy State Pensions and members of contracted out occupational schemes. The New State Pension is fundamentally based on an individual’s own National Insurance contributions, subject to certain arrangements.

Most occupational pension inheritance rights are either determined by the members when they choose how to draw down their pension pot, or are set out in scheme rules, and are therefore a matter for the sponsoring employer to determine as part of their reward and retention strategy.

The Government has no plans for legislative change.