FOI reference: FOI-2025-3224
You asked
I refer to FOI-2025-3134. In that response the ONS stated: "with respect to methodological changes, no changes were made to the discount rates, actuarial assumptions or data sources in the 2024 publication."
However, the updated estimates published in January 2024, covering up to and including 2021, do not include any data for State Pension liabilities, that is social security pension schemes shown as Column H of Table 29 in the 2021 release. Please provide:
1. Existence and status
Has ONS produced an updated estimate of State Pension liabilities (Column H of Table 29) covering the period up to and including 2021? Please confirm whether such an estimate exists in any recorded form.
2. Latest figures and underpinning material
If yes, please provide the most recent estimate and all accompanying recorded information necessary to interpret it: the relevant tables or datasets, model files where held in a disclosable format, methodological notes, and key assumptions, including discount rates and demographic or earnings assumptions.
3. Reason for non-publication
If no updated estimate has been calculated, please explain why not, particularly given that social security pension schemes constituted more than half of total pension liabilities in the previous release.
4. Internal correspondence
Any internal correspondence from the last four years that specifically relates to the preparation and completion of Column H in Table 29, including any correspondence that records decisions or reasons for not publishing Column H as part of the January 2024 release.
We said
Thank you for your request.
No, we have not created this information. This is not held in a recorded form.
The most recent version of Table 29 Column H was published in 2018:
The Table 29 publication is compiled from multiple data, including internal and external datasets. The data required to produce Column H were not available in time for inclusion in the 2021 Table 29 publication. We published all other components of Table 29 that were available. We expect to receive the data required to produce Column H in the next couple of months and will update the publication after that is received, which is likely to be in Spring 2026.
The decision to publish table 29, excluding Column H, was made in a face-to-face meeting. The decision was quick and straightforward to make, as we did not have the data. Therefore, no internal correspondence exists for this decision.