Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Accepted
We have previously concluded that the Department had been relying on a State Pension payment...
Conclusion
We have previously concluded that the Department had been relying on a State Pension payment system that is not fit for purpose for decades, and recommended that it consider ways to upgrade its IT systems as a matter of urgency.66 The Department accepted 59 Q 101 60 Committee of Public Accounts, Underpayments of the State Pension, Thirty-Third Report of Session 2021–22, HC 654, 12 January 2022 61 DWP ARA 2021–22, pages 71, 225, 310 62 Qq 87–88 63 DWP ARA 2021–22, page 238 64 Committee of Public Accounts, Underpayments of the State Pension, Thirty-Third Report of Session 2021–22, HC 654, 12 January 2022 65 Q 89 66 Committee of Public Accounts, Underpayments of the State Pension, Thirty-Third Report of Session 2021–22, HC 654, 12 January 2022 The Department for Work and Pensions’ Accounts 2021–22 – Fraud and error in the benefits system 21 this and told us that it considered the recommendation to have been implemented, largely because it had introduced a new service—‘Get your State Pension’—to replace its legacy pension system.67 We asked the Department to update us on when it expected to have a State Pension management system that is fit for purpose. It maintained that it did have a pension system that was fit for purpose, the ‘Get Your State Pension’ system, which was built for the New State Pension cases from 2016 onward. However, it acknowledged that around 11.5 million records were still held on the legacy pension system set up in 1989. It told us that the migration of records to its new system was a “painstakingly difficult task” but that it expected to complete this process within the current Spending Review period.68 67 HM Treasury, Treasury Minutes – Government responses to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty- Second to the Thirty-Fifth reports from Session 2021–22, CP 649, April 2022 68 Qq 103–104 22 The Department for Work and Pensions’ Accounts 2021–22 – Fraud and error in the benefits system
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation, but disagrees with the overall conclusion, given its previous detailed updates on the State Pensions Legal Entitlement and Administrative Practices exercise (the LEAP exercise) and provides details on the scope of the exercise, progress to date and plans to address outstanding work and aims to complete the exercise by the end of 2023 for Category BL and Category D cases and continually looking at its delivery plans and assessing risks to delivery as they arise.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 The department agrees with the recommendation, but disagrees with the overall conclusion, given its previous detailed updates on the State Pensions Legal Entitlement and Administrative Practices exercise (the LEAP exercise). 6.3 The department’s 2020-21 and 2021-22 ARAs contain details on the scope of the exercise, progress to date and plans to address outstanding work. The department published management information on the exercise in October 2021, March 2022 and November 2022, all around the time of fiscal events. 6.4 The November 2022 update shows a significant increase in pace of the exercise. In the seven months to 31 October 2022, the department reviewed more cases than in the preceding 15 months. 6.5 Additional resources were allocated to the exercise throughout 2022. By 31 March 2023, the department expects to increase the number of full-time equivalent staff working on the exercise to approximately 1300. Consequently, the pace of the exercise is expected to further increase. 6.6 As per the 2021-22 ARA, the aim is to complete the exercise by the end of 2023 for Category BL cases - people who are married or in a civil partnership who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 and may be entitled to an uplift based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions, and Category D cases – those aged over 80 and get some basic State Pension, but less than the £85.00 in 2022-23, and satisfy certain residency conditions. For missed conversion cases, the exercise could run through to late 2024. 6.7 The department is continually looking at its delivery plans and assessing risks to delivery as they arise. The department will continue to be transparent about the size, scope and progress of the exercise using the regular reporting routes set out above.