Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has modelled the potential impact of pension scheme consolidation on member charges over the next five years.

Evidence suggests there are a range of benefits from schemes achieving a greater level of scale through consolidation. This includes better governance, economies of scale, increased diversification of assets and improved bargaining power.

This evidence suggests a greater number of benefits can arise at £25 billion to £50 billion (or greater) of assets under management, as set out in the Department for Work and Pensions’ November 2024 publication “Pension fund investment and the UK economy”. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-fund-investment-and-the-uk-economy/pension-fund-investment-and-the-uk-economy. Increased net returns via lower charges for members and higher net investment returns through diversification, both supported through scale, can drive improved member outcomes. This evidence is set out in the Pension Schemes Act Impact Assessment published in December 2025. The Impact Assessment can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/63860/documents/7447.

The Department will continue to monitor the impact of consolidation on charges, as set out in our recently published Evaluation Strategy which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-schemes-act-2026-evaluation-strategy/pension-schemes-act-2026-evaluation-strategy.