Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will write to women affected by changes to the state pension age to alert them to the effects of those changes.

Since the 1995 Pensions Act, successive Governments have gone to significant lengths to communicate State Pension age changes, including campaigns and writing directly to those affected. This also included issuing around 16 million automatic pension forecasts between 2003-2006, accompanied by a leaflet on State Pension age, which included information on how it was increasing for women;

We wrote to those people affected by State Pension age equalisation and the increase in State Pension age from 65 to 66 as follows:

- Between April 2009 and March 2011 we sent letters to 1.2 million women affected by the changes introduced in the Pensions Act 1995, (those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1953) informing them of the change to their State Pension age.

- We wrote to those men and women affected by the Pensions Act 2011 (those born between 6 April 1953 and 5 April 1960) informing them of the change to their State Pension age between January 2012 and November 2013. This involved mailing more than 5 million letters with accompanying leaflet to those affected.

In addition, we have just completed writing to people who are affected by the rise in State Pension age from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028. This involved sending letters to around 1 million people between December 2016 and May 2018.

We will continue to build on our communication strategies, making the most of digital technologies, to ensure we have a clear plan for communicating future changes to State Pension age and to assist with wider financial and later life employment planning.