Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a Citizens Advance scheme, under which individuals could receive the first year of their state pension as an early lump sum.

The State Pension is funded on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning that National Insurance contributions collected from today’s working population are used to help fund pension payments to current pensioners. It is therefore not a personal savings account or fund from which individuals can draw down accumulated entitlements before reaching State Pension age.

The principle of having a State Pension age that is the same for everybody is simple and clear, making it easy for people to plan for their retirement. It has always been the case that nobody can claim their State Pension before they reach their State Pension age.