Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if it continues to be her policy to uprate benefits in April in line with the current level of inflation in September.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has a statutory obligation to undertake an annual review of State pensions and benefits. Her review will commence shortly, based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in the year to September 2022, and on earnings growth in the year to May-July 2022. The latter figure was published on 11 October by the Office for National Statistics. The CPI figure will be published on 19 October. The Secretary of State’s decisions will be announced to Parliament shortly.