Pensions Minister and Economic Secretary to the Treasury questioned on accessing pension savings

• Watch Parliament TV: Protecting pension savers – five years on from the Pension Freedoms: Accessing pension savings
• Inquiry: Protecting pension savers – five years on from the Pension Freedoms: Accessing pension savings
• Work and Pensions Committee

Witnesses

Monday 8 November

At 4.15pm

• Guy Opperman MP, Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion
• Rt Hon John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury
• Pete Searle, Director, Private Pensions and Arm’s-Length Bodies, Department for Work and Pensions

The session will be an opportunity for MPs to question the Ministers about issues raised during the inquiry so far, including the role of Government in ensuring savers make good decisions when accessing their pension savings, the availability of pension advice and the development of pension dashboards.

Members are also likely to use the meeting to ask about state pension underpayments and the delays in payment being experienced by some people looking to claim their pension for the first time. Committee Chair Stephen Timms wrote to Mr Opperman last month about the backlog in processing state pension applications, which has left some pensioners without their state pension entitlement.

The accessing pension savings inquiry is part of the Committee’s work examining the impact of the pension freedoms and the protection of savers and follows on from its report on pension scams. The freedoms were introduced in 2015 with the aim of giving people aged over 55 more control over how and when they could access their savings.

The Committee has previous held sessions with pension policy experts and representative bodies, pension industry representatives and pension regulators and a session focused on Collective Defined Contribution pension schemes.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

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