Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an estimate of the number of people who have accessed their pension pots to repay debt in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

HMRC does not collect data on how individuals use their funds when they access their pension. The Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Lives 2020 survey and the Office for National Statistics Wealth and Assets survey both collect some data on how individuals have used pension lump sum payments.

To help people in problem debt, the government continues to maintain record levels of debt advice funding for the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), bringing the budget for free debt advice in England to over £90 million in 2022-23. In addition to this, the government launched the Breathing Space scheme in England and Wales last year. The scheme gives eligible people in problem debt who receive professional debt advice access to a 60-day period in which enforcement action is paused and most fees, charges and interest are frozen.

The government also continues to develop the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan (SDRP), a new statutory debt solution that will enable a person in problem debt to combine the majority of their debts into a single repayment plan, with payments made over a manageable time period, while receiving legal protections from creditor action for the duration of their plan. The government launched a public consultation on draft regulations for the SDRP on 13 May 2022 and is aiming to lay those by the end of 2022. Following this, the government intends for the scheme to commence in 2024.