Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of adjusting in line with inflation the £30,000 threshold over which advice must be sought before a pension is transferred.

The Government is committed to ensuring that pension savers receive clear and essential information, and that pension transfers are conducted on an informed basis.

To support this principle, individuals with pensions that include a guarantee remain required to take independent financial advice before converting their pension pot, where the value exceeds £30,000. This requirement is intended to ensure savers are made aware of valuable guarantees that could provide a secure income in retirement, before they choose to relinquish those guarantees through a transfer.

The £30,000 threshold aligns to the trivial commutation rules and raising this figure could increase the risk of transfers being made without sufficient understanding.

A review of the regulations conducted in 2023 identified potential concerns regarding the cost and availability of independent financial advice and the Government is keen to explore the extent of these issues. As such, the Department for Work and Pensions is working closely with the Financial Conduct Authority, the pensions industry, and His Majesty’s Treasury . We intend to consult on the outcome of this work in the coming months.