Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to reverse the decision to remove derived entitlements to the basic state pension; and if he will make a statement.

The ability to derive a basic state pension or increase of basic state pension based on the National Insurance contributions of a spouse or civil partner is a feature of the current state pension scheme. It will continue to be available to people who reach state pension age before the introduction of the new state pension on 6 April 2016 and who will, therefore, remain in the current scheme.

This provision, which dates from the 1940s, is rapidly becoming redundant as the majority of individuals who have spent most of their working lives in the UK have the opportunity to build up a state pension in their own right, either through working or credits that recognise a wide range of circumstances, including caring responsibilities. The new state pension is designed to reflect the working lives of people reaching state pension age now and in the future. It will accordingly be based on an individual’s own National Insurance contributions.