{"value":{"id":1908126,"askingMemberId":5096,"askingMember":null,"house":"Commons","memberHasInterest":false,"dateTabled":"2026-05-20T00:00:00","dateForAnswer":"2026-06-01T00:00:00","uin":"3569","questionText":"To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what components are included in the Government's estimate of around £2 billion for the cost of Financial Assistance Scheme pre-1997 indexation; and whether that figure includes (a) arrears, (b) indexation at a CPI cap above 2.5%, and (c) post-1997 assistance costs.","answeringBodyId":29,"answeringBodyName":"Department for Work and Pensions","isWithdrawn":false,"isNamedDay":false,"groupedQuestions":[],"answerIsHolding":false,"answerIsCorrection":false,"answeringMemberId":5069,"answeringMember":null,"correctingMemberId":null,"correctingMember":null,"dateAnswered":"2026-06-10T00:00:00","answerText":"<p>The Government has brought forward legislation to introduce increases on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme that relate to pensions built up before 6 April 1997. These will be CPI-linked (capped at 2.5%) and apply prospectively (i.e. to payments going forward) for members whose former schemes provided for these increases.</p><p> </p><p>At the Budget, the cost of this measure was estimated to be around £0.3 - £0.6 billion for the Financial Assistance Scheme over the lifetime of the scheme.</p><p> </p><p>The Pension Protection Fund has previously estimated that the cost of providing both prospective and retrospective pre-1997 indexation in the Financial Assistance Scheme is around £2 billion for members whose former schemes had provided such indexation. This estimate is broken down as follows:</p><p> </p><p>a) It includes arrears for retrospective pre-1997 pension increases of CPI capped at 5%: £0.5 billion.</p><p>b) It includes prospective and retrospective pre-1997 pension increases of CPI capped at 5%: £1.3 - £2.0 billion.</p><p>c) The estimate of £2 billion does not include post-1997 assistance costs.</p>","originalAnswerText":"","comparableAnswerText":"","dateAnswerCorrected":null,"dateHoldingAnswer":null,"attachmentCount":0,"heading":"Financial Assistance Scheme","attachments":[],"groupedQuestionsDates":[]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Questions/1908126","method":"GET"}]}