Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is planning to take to help people understand their personal pensions in (a) Hendon constituency and (b) the UK.

We are actively working on supporting people to understand and prepare for retirement, with pension guidance provided by the Money and Pension Service available in all parts of the UK.

Alongside the introduction of the Pension Freedoms in 2015, we introduced Pension Wise guidance, now delivered through the Money and Pensions Service MoneyHelper Pension Wise (moneyhelper.org.uk). Pension Wise provides free, impartial guidance to savers aged 50 or above as they approach retirement and who are considering accessing their pension savings through pensions freedoms. In addition to Pension Wise, MoneyHelper Pensions (formerly known as The Pensions Advisory Service) provides guidance to individuals of all ages, across a wide range of issues.

To ensure pension savers consider receiving Pension Wise guidance before accessing their savings, we recently consulted on introducing a Stronger Nudge to Pensions’ Guidance. The Government’s response will be published in due course.

Simple annual benefit statements have also been introduced to help members better understand the information they receive from their pension scheme, including how much they have saved. Empowering consumers to see all of their pensions savings in one place for the first time and also what level of income they might provide in retirement, is a key part of our strategy to improve consumers’ engagement with pensions. Pensions dashboards will put the individual saver in control, reconnect people with their lost pension pots, and transform how people think and plan for their retirement.

The Pensions Dashboards Programme’s latest progress report was published in October 2021, and highlighted that dashboards remain on track for delivery in phase 4 of their delivery programme.