Committee publication · Correspondence · 22 April 2026

Correspondence with the Minister for Pensions, following his appearance before the Committee on Wednesday 18 March 2026

Inquiry: Transition to State Pension age

Summary

The Work and Pensions Committee's Chair Debbie Abrahams wrote to Minister for Pensions Torsten Bell on 25 March 2026 following his 18 March evidence session, seeking further information on the Independent State Pension age review publication plans, Universal Credit asset test impacts on pre-pensioners, pension decumulation behaviour, UC take-up rates, data-sharing progress (particularly the ILOV programme), and reasons pre-pensioners leave UC. Bell responded 14 April providing data on pension access patterns, UC capital rules, and confirming the ILOV programme remains in design phase with testing expected winter 2026.

Key findings

DWP has not undertaken specific research on the proportion of 60–65-year-olds eligible for but not claiming Universal Credit, or the reasons for non-take-up in this age group.
Of 810,000 individuals who accessed their pension for the first time in 2024–25, 83% did so before State Pension age; 38% first accessed between ages 60–65, with average first access age of 60.
Around 2.7 million individuals received private pensions while still in employment in 2024–25, with 1.2 million aged 60–66; 61% of 55–75-year-olds who accessed pensions had done so before fully retiring.
The Identifying Local Vulnerability (ILOV) data-sharing programme has not yet entered formal Delivery phase; testing with a small group of local authorities now estimated for winter 2026, with wider rollout in late 2027.
DWP confirmed over 80 additional Universal Credit data items are now visible to local authorities via the Customer Information System, though legislative barriers continue to restrict broader data sharing and local authority reuse of shared data.

Tone

Procedural

Topics

pensionsuniversal-creditstate-pension-agedata-sharingpre-pensioners

Key actors

Debbie Abrahams MP (Chair, Work and Pensions Committee), Torsten Bell MP (Minister for Pensions), Dr Suzy Morrissey (Independent State Pension age review author), Department for Work and Pensions, Policy in Practice, Office for National Statistics

Notable line

“The Department has not undertaken such specific research.”

Key Quotes

“We are interested to know what work you are doing to assess the impact of Universal Credit rules on the pension and other savings of the pre-pensioner group.”
— Debbie Abrahams MP · Opening the Universal Credit asset test inquiry

“Dr Morrissey's Independent Report forms an important part of the evidence for the Government's State Pension age Review. It was commissioned to look at the key factors government should consider in determining State Pension age for future decades, balancing consideration of fairness and sustainability.”
— Torsten Bell MP · On publication plans for the Suzy Morrissey review

“We do not currently have published statistics on the level or distribution of capital assets held by Universal Credit claimants aged 60 –”
— Torsten Bell MP · Responding to request for data on UC recipients with pension savings

“… of the 810,000 individuals who accessed their pension for the first time in 2024-25, 83% did so before State Pension age.”
— Torsten Bell MP · On pension access timing patterns

“While we haven't yet moved into the formal Delivery phase yet, the latest estimated timeline is that the test of the new data share, with a small group of LAs should be next winter, with wider rollout later in”
— Torsten Bell MP · On ILOV programme delivery timeline

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗