State Retirement Pensions

(asked on 23rd April 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes her Department uses to notify people of their state pension entitlement.


Answered by
Guy Opperman Portrait
Guy Opperman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 30th April 2018

Provided that a person has a National Insurance number, we will normally send them details about their options for claiming their State Pension (including how they can put off claiming State Pension to get extra State Pension), to the address held for them on our computer systems about four months before they reach State Pension age.

In law, the responsibility for claiming any benefit lies with the person concerned. However, as part of our service to people approaching State Pension age, we provide some initial information about their pension entitlement and invite them to complete their State Pension claim either online, by phone or using the specific claim form.

We try to contact people to invite them to make a claim to State Pension but this can only succeed where the latest address held on our records is correct. These records are updated when claims are made or, in some cases, when National Insurance contribution queries are investigated. Otherwise, we rely on the individual notifying us of a change of address.

While a person may not receive their individual notification about claiming their State Pension, most people know when to claim. Each person should make appropriate enquiries about State Pension entitlement if they do not hear from us. There is an extensive range of information about the State Pension and social security benefits online at www.gov.uk.

Bottom of Form

When a valid State Pension claim has been made, a DWP decision maker notifies a customer by letter of any entitlement. DWP then issues annual State Pension increase notifications by letter to customers’ based on the Chancellor’s Budget Announcement to confirm the new rate of State Pension payable each April.

Reticulating Splines