Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of a bereaved unmarried couple's ability to access a deceased partner’s workplace pension following a separation on grounds of domestic abuse.

The Department has recently looked at cohabiting couples’ rights in relation to their deceased partner’s occupational pension more widely, in response to recommendation 5 of the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s Second Report into Cohabiting Couples.

Our assessment was published on pages 5 and 6 of The rights of cohabiting partners: Government response to the Committee’s Second Report (parliament.uk) on 1^st November 2022. A Letter from the Minister for Pensions on the rights of cohabiting partners to the Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, published on 18^th July this year outlined my Department’s most recent work in this area.