§ Baroness Greengrossasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they have taken to inform women affected by the increase in the state pension age for women from 2010; what percentage of women they estimate to be already aware of the increase; and whether they have taken steps to discover what such women have done in response. [HL6158]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham):I refer the noble Baroness to the Answer I gave her on 31 January 2002 (WA 57).
Changes to the state pension age for women are publicised as part of the current marketing campaign on pensions education for people of working age. This is a multi-million pound campaign which encourages people to plan for retirement and consider the full range of pension options and issues.
117WAThe campaign includes a press advert specifically about the change to state pension age for women and we have undertaken direct marketing activity, which includes press inserts and direct mailings targeted specifically at women. These materials all highlight the fact that the state pension age for women is changing.
This activity has taken place since research undertaken in March 2000 which showed that 30 per cent of women aged 18-55 were aware that changes to the state pension age had been made. Since then, as outlined above, there has been considerable further activity to publicise these changes and we have distributed more than 2 million pensions information guides.
The effectiveness of the pensions education campaign is measured on an ongoing basis.