Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet the hon. Member for Glasgow East and a delegation from WASPI Glasgow and Lanarkshire to discuss changes to the state pension age for women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are no plans to meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament. The Government will not be making changes to its policy on state pension age for women born in the 1950s.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of compensating women who have reached state pension age for losses caused by changes introduced in the Pension Acts 1995 and 2011 to their state pensions.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age arrangements for women affected by the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011. These women will receive their State Pension either at the same age as men or earlier as we remove the current inequality, as set out in the 1995 & 2011 Acts. A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession benefited almost a quarter of a million women, who would otherwise have experienced delays of up to two years. A similar number of men also benefited from a reduced increase, and the concession was worth £1.1 billion in total.
It is worth noting that the average woman who reached SPa post 2015 gets a higher state pension income over her lifetime than an average woman reaching SPa at any point before. Also, over a lifetime, the average woman who reached State Pension age in 2015 will still receive more than the average man in spite of the rise in women’s state pension age. Any amendment to the current legislation which creates a new inequality between men and women would unquestionably be highly dubious as a matter of law.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to achieve equitable transitional state pension arrangements for all women born in the 1950s affected by changes to state pensions introduced buy the Pensions Act 1995 and 2011.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The decision to equalise the State Pension age for men and women dates back to 1995 and addresses a longstanding inequality between men and women’s State Pension age. If State Pension ages had not been equalised, women would be spending 40% of their adult life in retirement and this proportion would be continuing to increase.
The 2010-15 Government made the decision to bring in further changes to the State Pension age, following extensive debates in both Houses of Parliament. These changes were introduced in order to protect public finances and maintain the sustainability of the state pension over the long term. Life expectancy at age 65 increased by 5 years for men and almost 4 years for women in the 20 years to 2009. The 2011 Act accelerated the equalisation of women’s State Pension age by 18 months and brought forward the increase in men and women’s State Pension age to 66 by five and a half years, relative to the previous timetables. Failing to act in light of compelling demographic evidence would have been irresponsible and would have placed an unfair fiscal burden on the working population.
A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession benefited almost a quarter of a million women, who would otherwise have experienced delays of up to two years. A similar number of men also benefited from a reduced increase, and the concession was worth £1.1 billion in total.
This issue has been debated numerous times and numerous statements have already been made. Introducing further concessions cannot be justified given the imperative to focus public resources on helping those most in need.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2017 to Question 8090, on what date he will next meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
Answered by David Mundell
My Department receives a large number of requests for the ministerial team and officials to meet with stakeholders to discuss a variety of issues on a regular basis and each invitation is considered on a case by case basis.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle and a delegation from WASPI Hull to discuss changes to the state pension age for women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are no current plans to meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign in the immediate future.
This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament, most recently in a Westminster Hall Debate on 5th July 2017 in which I stated I will be meeting the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) when it is reformed.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet the hon. Member for Coventry North East and a delegation from WASPI Coventry to discuss changes to the state pension age for women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are no current plans to meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign in the immediate future.
This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament, most recently in a Westminster Hall Debate on 5th July 2017 in which I stated I will be meeting the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) when it is reformed.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, when he last met representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
Answered by David Mundell
Ministers and officials regularly meet with a wide range of stakeholders on a variety of issues. The Government publishes a list of all ministerial meetings with external bodies on departmental business on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to meet representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign to discuss the effect of 1995 and 2011 changes to women's state pension age.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are no current plans to meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign in the immediate future.
This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament, most recently in a Westminster Hall Debate on 5th July 2017 in which I stated I will be meeting the all-party parliamentary group when it is reformed.
In addition to the substantive debate on this issue, previous Ministers have met with WASPI representatives to discuss the effect of the 1995 and 2011 changes to women’s State Pension age. Baroness Ros Altmann and Shailesh Vara MP met with representatives of the WASPI group on 29th June 2016 to listen to their concerns.
This issue was also raised in a meeting on 23 November 2016 between the former Secretary of State Damian Green, the then Minister for Pensions Richard Harrington MP and representatives from the relevant All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).
Following these meetings and debates, the government maintains the view that the 1995 and 2011 changes to State Pension age were necessary. We remain very clear that we will make no further changes to the State Pension age or pay financial redress in lieu of pension. Therefore the government believes that there is no value for either party in future meetings with representatives from the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
A key priority for Government remains supporting individuals aged 50 years and over to return to and remain in the labour market, and tackling the barriers to them doing so. Since 2016 much work has been done to provide support back into employment, with 1.2 million over 65’s now in employment. In addition there is training and retraining, in many ways, as well as investment in lifelong learning and returnship schemes. We have also extended our network of older claimant champions to all 34 Jobcentre Plus districts to provide best practice and support to work coaches.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to eliminate inequalities in pension rights.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The decision was made in 1995 to equalise the State Pension age for men and women. This addressed a longstanding inequality in pension age. If State Pension ages had not been equalised, women would be spending over 40% of their adult life in retirement. Men’s and women’s State Pension age will equalise in November 2018.
The new State Pension is much more generous for many women, who have been historically worse off under the old system. By 2030, over 3 million women stand to gain an average of £550 extra per year as a result of recent changes.
Automatic enrolment into workplace pensions was designed to help more people save for their retirement, including groups who historically have been less likely to save, such as women and lower earners. In 2012, overall workplace participation by eligible female employees was 58 per cent, compared to male participation at 52 per cent but since the introduction of automatic enrolment, the participation of female eligible employees has increased to 80 per cent in 2016 with overall male participation at 76 per cent.
As part of the current review of automatic enrolment, the Government has committed to look at the existing coverage of the policy and consider the needs of those not currently benefiting from automatic enrolment. The review will have regard to the Equality Act, as well as the need to balance the needs of individual savers, with affordability for employers and value for money for tax payers.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on implementing pension transitional protection arrangements for women born in the 1950s.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues including the Chancellor of the Exchequer on a range of issues.
The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age arrangements for women affected by the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011. These women will receive their State Pension either at the same age as men or earlier as we remove the current inequality.