Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to extend pre-1997 pension indexation changes for members of the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme to members of ongoing occupational pension schemes whose pre-1997 contributions remain frozen.

The Government tabled an amendment to the Pension Schemes Bill which provides that compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme on pensions accrued before April 1997 will now be linked to CPI-inflation (capped at 2.5%). This will apply prospectively for pensioners whose former schemes provided these increases.

In private sector defined benefit pension schemes, analysis published by the Pensions Regulator indicates that, as of March 2023, around 17 per cent of members do not receive any pre-1997 indexation on benefits. This information can be found at: thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests

The reforms in our Pension Schemes Bill give trustees more flexibility to share surplus with sponsoring employers, and negotiate benefits for members, including discretionary increases. Trustees will be in the driving seat in all decision making on surplus release and must act in the best interest of scheme beneficiaries.