Work and Pensions Committee Chair comment: Child benefit and state pension entitlement
2 May 2023
Responding to an announcement from the Government on child benefit and state pension entitlement, Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said:
“With a worrying number already saving insufficiently for later life, penalising people – mainly women – through state pension entitlement for deciding not to claim child benefit only makes matters worse, exacerbating the gender pension gap. We therefore welcome the Government’s intention to address this, and look forward to proposals to ensure that not claiming Child Benefit no longer reduces state pension entitlement.”
The Government has announced its intention to address “concerns that some eligible parents who have not claimed Child Benefit could miss out on their future entitlement to a full State Pension. It will address this issue to enable affected parents to receive a National Insurance credit retrospectively.”
The Committee made the following recommendation in its report on Saving for Later Life in September last year: “Almost half a million people have stopped claiming Child Benefit since 2013 to avoid the High Income Child Benefit charge. We recommend that DWP explain what arrangements it intends to put in place to ensure this does not have a detrimental impact on their State Pension entitlement.”
Further information
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