Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20580 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what the (a) estimated and (b) actual costs of the project are.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has spent £56.7M between 2019/20 and the end of February 2024 (with spend relating to 2023/24 subject to final audit).
Whole life costs of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (2019/20 – 2026/27) are currently estimated by MaPS to be around £139M.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20581 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what steps he plans to take to report progress towards the Dashboards Available Point to (a) Parliament and (b) other key stakeholders.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Before a specific date for the Dashboards Available Point can be determined, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use of pensions dashboard services by the general public, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services.
Officials in my department are working closely with key delivery partners to refine these relevant matters which includes recognition of keeping Parliament and the wider pensions industry informed of reporting progress towards the Dashboards Available Point. This is in line with our commitment of working closely with industry on successfully launching pensions dashboard services safely and securely at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when users of the new Pensions Dashboard will be able to access financial information relating to their pensions.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Users of pensions dashboard services will be able to access financial information relating to their pensions at the Dashboards Available Point. The Dashboards Available Point is the point at which pensions dashboard services will be available for widespread use by the general public.
A specific date for the Dashboards Available Point cannot yet be determined as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services for use by the general public.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of users that will have accessed Pensions Dashboards by (a) 30 April 2025 and (b) 31 October 2026.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Pensions dashboard services will become available for widespread use by the general public at the Dashboards Available Point. A specific date for the Dashboards Available Point cannot yet be determined as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services for use by the general public.
Under the central scenario (best estimate) in the impact assessment for the Pensions Dashboards (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (which can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2023/89/pdfs/ukia_20230089_en.pdf), we estimate the number of users of pensions dashboard services will increase to around 16 million in the years following the Dashboards Available Point.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether State Pension data will be included in the Pensions Dashboard Programme.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Pensions dashboards will allow individuals to view information about their pensions, including the State Pension, for free in one place online. Dashboards will show individuals the estimated State Pension amount they would get based on their current National Insurance contribution record, their forecasted State Pension amount that assumes they pay National Insurance contributions going forward, the date they will reach State Pension age, and supporting messages regarding the data displayed.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans that the Pensions Dashboard Programme will be ready for use.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Dashboards Available Point will be when the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem – which is being developed by the Pensions Dashboards Programme – is ready to support widespread use by the general public. This will come following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority.
The Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 specify that the Secretary of State will provide notice of at least six months ahead of the Dashboards Available Point. The Secretary of State will consider factors including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service, and testing of the user experience.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost of the (a) development of the Pensions Dashboard Programme to date and (b) programme on completion.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
MaPS has been allocated £91.1M for the delivery of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) through the relevant Spending Review periods covering financial years 2019/20 to 2024/25.
The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has spent £45.3M between 2019/20 and the end of May 2023 (with spend relating to 2022/23 and to 2023/24 subject to final audit). Further spend for the programme will be available on an annual basis.
Expenditure allocations for years beyond 2024/25 will be the subject of future Spending Review processes.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the Cold Weather Payments scheme has been triggered in the last two years; how much money has been distributed as part of this scheme; and whether the scheme uses ringfenced funds.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A breakdown of triggers by country along with number of payments can be found in the official statistics for cold weather payment (CWP) estimates here: Cold Weather Payment estimates: 2021 to 2022- GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Expenditure on Cold Weather Payments can be found in the Annual Social Fund Reports here Social Fund annual report 2020 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The 21/22 report is due to be published in the near future and thus 21/22 expenditure is an estimate based on the Cold Weather Payment Official Statistics.
Cold Weather Payments are not ring-fenced. Funding for the Cold Weather Payment scheme is demand driven and expenditure varies each year depending on how cold the winter is.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cold Weather Payments have been distributed since that scheme's inception; and how much her Department has spent on those payments per annum.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The current system of cold weather payments was introduced in 1988. The payment is a fixed amount for each week of cold weather. From 1995 this was set at £8.50 a week. The Cold Weather Payment was temporarily increased from £8.50 to £25 for the winters of 2008/9 and 2009/10. This increase was made permanent in November 2010.
The table below shows the number of Cold Weather payments made and total expenditure in each year since 1988-89. 21/22 is due to be published in the next Annual Social Fund Report so has not been included below.
| No. of cold weather payments (000) | Expenditure (£m) |
1988-89 | 0.5 | 0.003 |
1989-90 | N/A | 0.4 |
1990-91 | N/A | 9.3 |
1991-92 | 3,827 | 23.0 |
1992-93 | 2,503 | 15.0 |
1993-94 | 2,064 | 12.4 |
1994-95 | 11 | 0.1 |
1995-96 | 7,252 | 61.6 |
1996-97 | 4,964 | 42.2 |
1997-98 | 55 | 0.5 |
1998-99 | 26 | 0.2 |
1999-00 | 114 | 1.0 |
2000-01 | 3,535 | 30.0 |
2001-02 | 1,804 | 15.3 |
2002-03 | 1,675 | 14.2 |
2003-04 | 418 | 3.5 |
2004-05 | 213 | 1.8 |
2005-06 | 988 | 8.4 |
2006-07 | 402 | 3.4 |
2007-08 | 472 | 4.0 |
2008-09 | 8,416 | 210.4 |
2009-10 | 11,590 | 289.7 |
2010-11 | 17,232 | 430.8 |
2011-12 | 5,167 | 129.2 |
2012-13 | 5,845 | 146.1 |
2013-14 | 1 | 0.03 |
2014-15 | 422 | 10.6 |
2015-16 | 155 | 3.9 |
2016-17 | 131 | 3.1 |
2017-18 | 4,572 | 114.3 |
2018-19 | 1079 | 27.0 |
2019-20 | 10 | 0.3 |
2020-21 | 3,951 | 98.8 |
Notes
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many young people living in Blaenau Gwent constituency were registered with the Kickstart scheme as of 23 February 2021.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data regarding the number of young people registered for the Kickstart scheme by constituency is not currently available.