Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the state pension age on the number of older people who are able to volunteer with civil society organisations.

The government recognises the impactful contributions that the many volunteers over the state pension age make, bringing their wealth of skills and experience developed in the workplace. According to the latest Community Life Survey results in 2021, respondents aged 65-74 were most likely to participate in formal volunteering at least once a month compared with other age groups.

Since the pandemic, there have been changes in volunteering rates. Rates of participation in formal volunteering were lower in 2020/21 than in 2019/20 for every age group, although the largest drop was in the 65 to 74 bracket (which reduced from 31% to 22% during this time period). There are many factors that may impact on the numbers of people volunteering and we will continue to monitor changes in the rate of volunteering for all age groups. However, the government currently has no plans to make an assessment of the impact of raising the state pension age.