State Retirement Pensions: Terminal Illnesses

(asked on 23rd October 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing terminally ill people to claim their state pension early.


Answered by
Laura Trott Portrait
Laura Trott
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This question was answered on 26th October 2023

The principle of having a State Pension age that is the same for everybody is fundamental in the UK. Unlike a personal or workplace pension, which can potentially be drawn earlier, it has always been the case that nobody can claim their State Pension early, before they reach their State Pension age. We have no current plans to change this principle.

For those at the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way that the Department does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they have been changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.

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