Damian Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Damian Green on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy and timeliness of information given to women born in the 1950s of changes to the age at which they become eligible for the state pension; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson

Following the Pensions Act 1995, which set out the timetable for women’s State Pension age to rise from 60 to 65, changes to State Pension age were communicated in State Pension estimates issued to individuals on request. These estimates provided individuals with their most up-to-date date of reaching State Pension age. Since April 2000, the Department has issued more than 11.5 million personalised State Pension statements to people who requested them.

Independent evidence submitted to the Work and Pensions Select Committee demonstrates that there were several mentions of State Pension age equalisation in the national broadsheet and tabloid press between 1993 and 2006.

The Department also ran a pensions education campaign in 2004, which included informing people of the future equalisation of State Pension age. A 2007 DWP report, Attitudes to pensions: The 2006 survey, reported that 86 per cent of women aged 55-64 and 90 per cent aged 45-54 were aware that the State Pension age will increase in future.

The Government sent letters to women affected by changes in the 1995 Act between April 2009 and March 2011 using the address details held by HMRC at that time.

The timetable for equalising State Pension age at 65 for women and men and for the increase to 66 was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011 following sharp increases in life expectancy projections. A concession worth £1.1 billion was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which capped the maximum delay that anyone would face in claiming their State Pension to 18 months rather than two years, relative to the previous timetable. The Government sent letters between January 2012 and November 2013 to all those directly affected to inform them of the changes to their State Pension age.