State Retirement Pensions
(asked on 8th March 2019) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of increasing the state pension age on access to benefits; and if she will make a statement.
The Labour Government 1997-2010, the Coalition 2010-2015 and the Conservative Government of 1992-1997 have taken a similar approach to raising State Pension age. Successive Governments have taken care to give proper consideration to the impact of the proposals made in the Pensions Acts of 1995, 2007 and 2011, which each made changes to the State Pension age. The exact form of the assessments has changed over time as the requirements on Government to carry out standardised impact assessments have changed.
The Pensions Act 1995 legislated to equalise men and women’s State Pension age at 65, over a 10 year period between 2010 and 2020. Standardised impact assessments had not been introduced at the time, but an overview of the options and evidence considered when developing the policy is provided in the 1993 white paper ‘Equality in State Pension age’. (See attached)
The Pensions Act 2007 legislated to introduce a timetable for the increase of State Pension age to 66, 67 and 68.
The impact assessment for the Pensions Act 2007 can be found here:
The Pensions Act 2011 brought forward the equalisation of the male and female State Pension age at 65 by 18 months, so that it had taken place by November 2018 rather than April 2020. It also brought forward the increase from 65 to 66 by five and a half years, so that it takes place by October 2020 rather than March 2026.
The impact assessment for the Pensions Act 2011 can be found here: