Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve the safety of pensions.

On State Pensions, we have made a commitment to the Triple Lock for the entirety of this Parliament which will mean the annual spend on people’s State Pensions is forecast to rise by around £31 billion. These rises are only possible because of the tough decisions made in the autumn statement 2024 to keep the public finances on a sustainable footing .

Over 12 million pensioners will benefit (over the course of this parliament) with the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,900.

The Pension Schemes Bill, introduced in Parliament on 5 June, will legislate to transform the £2 trillion workplace pensions landscape – with a smaller number of bigger, better governed, better value pension providers investing in a wider range of productive assets, ultimately improving outcomes for savers and our economy. The Bill will also legislate for wider changes, from putting in place a value for money regime for Defined Contribution pensions to the introduction of flexibilities for trustees of well-funded Defined Benefit pension schemes to release surplus back to employers where it is safe to do so, enabling benefits for scheme members.

A bedrock of our reforms is the security of members’ benefits and protection of their best interests. The reforms to the existing regime will continue to maintain member protection, with appropriate and adequate safeguards in place underpinned by the role of regulators.

This government will work closely with the Pension Protection Fund as the administrator of the Fraud Compensation Fund to ensure that the fraud compensation system is effective and that schemes which have experienced of pension fraud receive fair and timely compensation.