Workplace Pensions: Increases
(asked on 14th May 2026) - View Source
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 adequacy of safeguards for members of defined benefit pension schemes where trustees recommend discretionary increases and those increases are actuarially affordable but sponsoring employers withhold consent.
The Government recognises the concerns of members of defined benefit pension schemes whose benefits accrued before 1997 are not subject to indexation.
The design of pension benefits, including whether discretionary increases may be awarded and whether employer consent is required, is a matter for each scheme’s trust deed and rules. Trustees in turn, must act in accordance with their fiduciary duties, trust law and scheme rules. The Pensions Regulator already expects trustees to consider whether discretionary increases would be in members’ interests, including any history of making such awards. However, the Regulator does not have the power to require discretionary increases to be paid where this is not permitted under scheme rules.
Analysis by the Pensions Regulator shows that 17 per cent of members of private sector defined benefit pension schemes do not receive any pre-1997 indexation on benefits in excess of any Guaranteed Minimum Pension rights accrued between 1988 and 1997, which must be indexed by the scheme. This information is published and available at:
The Department does not hold central data on the number of defined benefit schemes in surplus where discretionary increases have been proposed but not implemented due to a lack of employer consent. Decisions on discretionary increases are taken at scheme level, reflecting individual funding positions, scheme rules and employer covenants. The Regulator has been considering how it might strengthen its evidence base in this area, and any insights from that work may help inform future thinking.
When it comes to requirements on schemes to provide advance notification when policies on discretionary increases are changed or withdrawn, trustees must continue to comply with existing disclosure requirements.
Recent reforms will give trustees of well‑funded defined benefit schemes greater flexibility in relation to scheme surplus, subject to safeguarding members’ benefits. This may place trustees in a stronger position to negotiate benefit improvements, including discretionary increases where appropriate.