Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to require profitable companies to increase pre-1997 occupational pensions in line with inflation.

Members of defined benefit pension schemes with non-indexed pre-1997 pension accrued, are now understandably concerned at seeing inflation erode the value of their retirement income. The Government’s recently announced reforms on the use of surpluses in defined benefit schemes will make it easier for individual schemes to make decisions that improve outcomes for both sponsoring employers and members, which could include discretionary benefit increases.