Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from, or on behalf of the governments of (1) Canada, (2) Australia, and (3) New Zealand, in the past 12 months on the subject of UK state pensions paid to individuals resident in their territories, and their annual uprating in line with those paid in the United Kingdom; and what representations have they received from non-governmental groups on the same subject.

The government does not have a policy to increase the number of countries with which the UK has reciprocal agreements on state pensions. The government has no plans to change its social security relationship with these countries on state pensions.

Requests for social security agreements may be raised in formal and informal meetings and in correspondence at both ministerial and official level. The Department for Work and Pensions does not, as a matter of routine, maintain full records of such requests. The department can, however, confirm that a response was provided to the government of Canada in August 2022 on its request to conclude a reciprocal agreement to include state pension uprating, where the department outlined its longstanding position as stated above.