The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a call for evidence on state pension deferral, aiming to understand the drivers and barriers for people looking to delay their state pension.

State pension deferral allows people to delay claiming their state pension for an increase of 5.8 per cent for each year they defer.

However, the rules are less generous than they used to be, as prior to 2016 state pension deferrers would receive an increase of 10.4 per cent each year.

The DWP said its call for evidence would help it understand how the current arrangements work in practice and identify aspects that may warrant further consideration.

It emphasised that it was not proposing any specific policy changes or assuming that the current regime should be retained or changed.

Through the call for evidence, the DWP is seeking to understand why people defer their state pension; how well they understand their options; what influences when they claim; their experiences and the outcomes of their decisions; and any barriers or difficulties they encounter.

It will run for six weeks from today (20 October), closing to responses on 1 December 2026.

LCP partner, Steve Webb, said the call for evidence may be designed to inform the Pensions Commission’s deliberations, with its final report expected in February 2027.

“Some people do not realise that the state pension is not paid automatically when you reach pension age – it is necessary to make a claim,” he continued.

“It is also possible to deliberately ‘defer’ taking your state pension in return for a higher pension later.

“The government is clearly interested in whether tweaks to this system could incentivise more people to work on for longer, in order to help grow the economy.

“But decisions about whether to work on or stop work are likely to be affected by a range of factors including health or caring responsibilities, and it may be that modest changes to the reward for deferral would have little impact.”

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