Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the forthcoming Pensions Schemes Bill on the ability of Pension Scheme Administrators to support the the transfer of defined benefit pension schemes to insurance providers.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
An Impact Assessment will be published alongside the Pension Schemes Bill.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed increase to employers National Insurance contributions on trends in the levels of unemployment benefit claims.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The potential impacts of the changes to employers National Insurance Contributions, have been assessed by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.
This assessment is publicly available and can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what criteria she plans to use to assess the effectiveness of a reformed Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March 2025, we want to improve accessibility and support more disabled people into work. This includes helping employers increase productivity by supporting their employees with disabilities and health conditions. We want to do this through, in part, a reformed Access to Work. We are keen to ensure that, through future evaluation, we can demonstrate the value for money delivered through a new model as well as the positive impact it is having.
We will determine the nature of the evaluation as part of further policy development, reflecting on consultation responses.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what estimate she has made of number of claimants receiving contributory Employment and Support Allowance who will be affected by the proposed replacement with Unemployment Insurance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published here alongside the Spring Statement.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, whether her Department plans to publish statistics on the number of claimants who lose their (a) Personal Independence Payment and b) Universal Credit health entitlement following these reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published here alongside the Spring Statement.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make a comparative assessment of the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, and the Chance to Work Guarantee.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months alongside the consultation.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what discussions she has had with employers on mandatory reporting of the disability pay gap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 18 March 2025, the Government launched a consultation on mandatory pay gap reporting for both disability and ethnicity. Responses to the consultation will help to shape proposals which will be included in the upcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which was announced in the King’s Speech in July 2024.
Our engagement with stakeholders has included discussions with employers and employer representative bodies, for example the CBI and the Institute of Directors. We will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders including businesses as we develop the legislation.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a pensions adequacy review.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government remains committed to shaping the pensions system to serve the interests of savers and pensioners to provide security in retirement. The State Pension is at the heart of that commitment, and it provides a sustainable foundation to support people’s individual savings for retirement. The Government has made a commitment to the Triple Lock for the entirety of this Parliament which means spending on people’s State Pensions is forecast to rise by over £31 billion, this will see pensioners’ yearly incomes being up to £1900 higher.
Also crucially, Automatic Enrolment (AE) has succeeded in transforming retirement saving with over 11 million employees having been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension since 2012. However, we know we need to do even more to build on the success of AE in getting people in to saving by ensuring security in retirement for all. This is a key focus of our landmark pensions review.
We must first start by boosting the returns members can get from their savings. The first phase of our review is focused on investment and growth with the twin objectives of increasing investment in the UK and delivering improved returns for savers. In November 2024 we published the interim report of this review with consultations on unlocking the UK pensions market for growth and reforming the Local Government Pension Scheme. These consultations closed in January, and we expect to provide our response in Spring 2025.
We also acknowledge the importance of addressing the broader question of adequacy and how to build on the success of AE to ensure that people are saving enough for retirement. Therefore, the second phase of the review will in due course look at further steps to improve pension outcomes, and pension adequacy for all.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the Pension Protection Fund levy.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Board of the Pension Protection Fund is responsible for setting the levy and consults on its levy rules annually. In view of the Pension Protection Fund’s strong financial position, the Board has announced that it expects to be able to significantly reduce the pension protection levy it charges in the coming years without risking its ability to pay its members’ compensation.
The Government has announced that it will consider giving the Board of the Pension Protection Fund greater flexibility to adjust the annual pension protection levy it collects from private sector occupational DB pension schemes, when it is not required. We will set out more detail in due course.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to reform the Pension Protection Fund through the Pension Schemes Bill.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pension Protection Fund provides a safety net to members of eligible private sector defined benefit schemes in the event of their employer’s insolvency.
The Government plans to introduce measures in the Pension Schemes Bill that amend the Special Rules for End of Life in the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme. These measures will extend the definition of terminal illness within both schemes, allowing eligible members to access payments sooner in their illness. We will continue to consider whether there are further opportunities for change in the pensions compensation system.