Wednesday 18 March
2026, 09.30, Committee Room 16
The Government stands to save £10bn
from increasing the State Pension age to
67. The latest planned increase in the State Pension is due
to be phased in between April 2026 and 2028. A further
increase from age 67 to 68 is expected to be phased in over two
years from April 2044.
The Work and Pensions Committee is to question the Minister for
Pensions, MP as
it completes the evidence-gathering stage of
its inquiry into the Transition to State Pension age. He will be
joined by senior leaders from the Department for Work
and Pensions.
Any headline saving comes with a health warning that
poverty could double among people in the year
before qualifying for the State Pension, as happened on the last
occasion that the age was increased. MPs will
question the Department on what the Government has
learned from this experience and examine any preparations being
put in place.
As projections for life expectancy reduce, MPs will explore
whether the planned increases reflect demographic pressures.
Issues around setting a universal age and how to keep
older workers, particularly those with health
limitations, in employment will also be
considered.
Several independent reviews of the State Pension age have been
carried out since the 2014 Pensions Act. The Committee will
seek an update on the progress of the most recent review, by Dr
Suzy Morrissey, which is expected to report this
Spring.
MP was appointed
Parliamentary Secretary in HM Treasury and Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State in the Department for Work and
Pensions in January 2025. Before entering Parliament
last year, he was the chief executive of the economic
thinktank, the Resolution Foundation.
Other issues that the Committee has scrutinised recently,
for which he has oversight include the
Government's response to Parliamentary and Health
Service Ombudsman's (PHSO) report on Women's State Pension Age
Communication and financial assistance to
members of defined benefit schemes on which there is currently no
indexation. It may be that the Committee takes the opportunity to
get an update on these matters.
Witnesses, from
9.30am:
-
MP, Minister
for Pensions
-
Cathy Payne, Deputy Director, State
Pension policy, Department for Work and Pensions
-
Nick Warrington, Deputy Director, Keep
Britain Working, Department for Work and Pensions
