Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the potential effect on the public finances in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, and (c) 2021-22 of the changes to be introduced in May 2019 to the eligibility for pension credit of couples where one partner has reached state pension age and the other has not.

An estimated 115,000 couples are in receipt of either Pension Credit or pension-age Housing Benefit where one partner has reached state pension age and the other has not. These couples will continue to receive those benefits for as long as they are entitled to either of them. The table below shows further breakdowns of mixed age couples.

The table below gives estimates of the effects on Annual Managed Expenditure of the changes to be introduced in May 2019 to the eligibility for Pension Credit and pension-age Housing Benefit of couples where one partner has reached state pension age and the other has not. The estimates relate to couples who are not in receipt of either Pension Credit or pension-age Housing Benefit at the point the changes are introduced. They include no estimate of behavioural effects, for example from job retention or increased saving for retirement.

Estimated overall AME savings

To provide context in terms of the estimated AME savings in relation to the mixed age couples policy, the table below sets out total forecasted AME spending directed at pensioners over the same time period.

Expenditure Directed at Pensioners

Source: Table 2a, Benefit expenditure and caseload tables, 2018 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2018)