Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to address the issue of new state pension claimants waiting weeks or months for their pension payments to start; and whether everyone reaching state pension age is now being paid their state pension on time.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
We have deployed significant additional resource into the processing of new State Pension claims, the payment of which was particularly affected by the impact of the pandemic.
As a result, all claims received by DWP for UK State Pension should be paid on time, other than for those customers where further information is required, or evidence is awaited. State Pension is paid in arrears and, in most instances, the first payment will be due four weeks after the customer’s 66th Birthday.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women who were receiving less state pension than they were entitled to have (1) had their payments corrected, and (2) received back payments.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
I refer you to the information published on gov.uk on 22 October 2021. Please see attached document.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government for each of the past ten years, how many (1) women, and (2) men, have had their state pension reduced owing to the death of a partner.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The information requested is not normally held as part of normal business and cannot be provided as this would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have identified why automatic pension uplifts were not applied since 2008 to women's State Pension when their husbands reached State Pension Age; and what steps they have taken to ensure that future pension payments are subject to checks.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
As set out in the written statement of 4th March 2021, laid in both Houses, the Department IT systems produce an electronic prompt to consider if an individual’s State Pension amount should be increased. The prompt requires Department Staff to take further manual action and, in some cases, this did not take place.
The Department is undertaking additional quality assurance checks to ensure that State Pension payments are accurate.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what interest rate is applied to the arrears payments for women whose automatic pension uplifts were not applied as they should have been since 2008, and who are now receiving the back-dated amounts due.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
Where underpayments are identified, the Department is contacting individuals to inform them of the changes to their State Pension amount and of any arrears payment they will receive in accordance with the law.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to contact all people aged over 80 who are receiving less than the basic State Pension of £82.45 per week, including those receiving no State Pension, so they can be paid their entitlement.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
We encourage everyone to apply for the support they are entitled to. Information on how to make a claim can be found on GOV.UK.
The correction activity, which started on 11 January 2021, is identifying people over age 80 who may have been underpaid Category D State Pension in accordance with the law.
The law, which has been in place under successive governments, is that anyone who is not getting any State Pension when they reach age 80, is required to make a claim to get Category D State Pension (Social Security Administration Act 1992 (Section 1)). There is information on how to make a claim on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have identified why the Pensions Service helpline has been giving incorrect advice to women whose State Pension payments were too low about the accuracy of their payments; and what steps they are taking to improve the quality of the advice offered by the helpline.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Department strives every day to deliver the highest possible customer service to millions of people we support.
It is not possible to comment on substantive assertions.
Department staff receive comprehensive training to ensure that they provide customers with accurate information. If a customer feels that we may have given inaccurate information, we will investigate this thoroughly.
The Department is delivering enhanced training for all staff dealing with State Pension cases and we have ensured that all staff, including our partner G4S, have updated lines to take when handling calls from customers.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase take-up of Pension Credit and reduce pensioner poverty, especially for older women.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
There are now 200,000 fewer pensioners in absolute poverty than in 2009/10. The percentage of women aged 75 and over in absolute poverty after housing costs fell from 18 per cent in 2009/10 to 15 per cent in 2019/20.
The Government is committed to continuing to reduce pensioner poverty and Pension Credit has an important role to play, as a source of financial support for all eligible pensioners.
Department of Work and Pension Ministers recently met with stakeholders with an interest in pensioners’ financial wellbeing and the Director General of the BBC to explore opportunities to work together to support the promotion of Pension Credit.
The department continues to make the best use of all our channels to reach those who might be eligible as well as their family and friends. For example, over 11 million pensioners in Great Britain recently received messaging about Pension Credit with their annual State Pension up-rating letter. This highlighted that an award of Pension Credit can mean being eligible for other benefits such as Housing Benefit or a free over-75 TV licence. We also make use of proactive press activity and social media posts to encourage older people to check if they are eligible.
Our online Pension Credit material on gov.uk has also recently being updated, providing helpful information on how Pension Credit can help pensioners and how easy it is to claim particularly with the online service we introduced last year which enables family, friends and organisations to help pensioners, including older women pensioners, make a claim.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they currently impose, or intend to impose, any penalties on (1) employers, (2) scheme trustees, (3) pension providers, or (4) employer advisers, if automatic enrolment scheme members are contributing to a pension scheme which is unsuitable for them.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The government keeps all aspects of private pensions policy under review but there are no current plans to change the regulatory framework.
Employers have a duty to enrol their workers in a workplace pension scheme that is a qualifying scheme for automatic enrolment in accordance with the requirements set out in the Pensions Act 2008.
An automatic enrolment scheme must meet certain quality requirements. This is underpinned by the wider regulatory framework for all occupational and group personal pension schemes which helps to safeguard members’ pensions. Compliance and enforcement of these standards is the responsibility of The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority.