State Pension

Summary

The request sought data on Isle of Man state pension recipients and their overlap with UK pensions, including potential cost savings from removing dual payments. The Treasury disclosed that it holds no data on UK pension entitlements for those reaching pension age after April 2016 due to independent operations, though it confirmed records exist for 'split liability' pensions under the 1977 agreement for earlier cohorts.

Key Facts

• The Isle of Man Treasury does not hold information on UK pension entitlements for individuals who reached state pension age on or after 6 April 2016.
• Since 6 April 2016, the governments of the Isle of Man and the UK have operated independently regarding state pensions.
• For those reaching pension age before 6 April 2016, entitlements are calculated under the 1977 reciprocal agreement on social security.
• The Treasury holds records of the number of people receiving a 'split liability' pension under the 1977 agreement.
• The request was partially refused under section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 because the information is not held.

Data Disclosed

• 6 April 2016
• 1977
• 2019
• 9 January 2025
• 14 January 2025
• 15 January 2025
• 19 February 2025
• 4359589

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (information not held)

Original Request

Part 1 How many people are currently in receipt of an Isle of Man state pension? (Before and after 2019 changes) Part 2 How many people are currently in receipt of The Isle of Man State Pension (before and after the 2019 changes), are also in receipt of a UK Pension. Of these, can you please provide a breakdown of the number of people who receive the different types of UK pensions e.g. UK state retirement pension, UK personal pension, UK occupational pension, etc. Part 3 Has there been any correspondence between Treasury, Income Tax, National Insurance or Social Security advisors or officers discussing the following items: How many recipients of The Isle of Man State Pension are also in Receipt of a UK State Pension.How this number of beneficiaries could be identified.Might there be any cost savings to the Isle of Man Government, if Isle of Man State Pension payment  was removed or reduced if recipients were also in receipt of UK State Pension.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information
Seyrsnys Fysseree

The Treasury Government Office,
Douglas Isle of Man, IM1 3PU

Telephone: (01624) 685605 Email: FOI.Treasury@gov.im

Government Website: www.gov.im

Our ref: 4359589 15 January 2025

Dear ###,

We write further to your request received 9 January 2025, which states:

"How many people are currently in receipt of both Isle of Man and British State Pension?"

Your request was clarified on the 14 January 2025 to confirm that you meant:

“The number of Isle of Man residents who receive both an Isle of Man pension and a British pension.”

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested. For this reason, we need to apply a practical refusal reason to your request under section 11(3)(a) of the Act (information not held). The reason for this is that in relation to people who reached state pension age on or after 6 April 2016 we don’t hold the information requested. From that date the Governments of the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom have operated independently of each other with regard to state pensions. The IOM Treasury has no need to know about individuals’ British pension entitlements and therefore doesn’t collect that information.

You might be interested to know that in relation to people who reached state pension age before 6 April 2016 their pension entitlements are calculated having regard to the provisions of the 1977 reciprocal agreement on social security between the Governments of the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom. Under this Agreement the two jurisdictions effectively act together for state pension purposes. National Insurance contributions paid in the IOM and National Insurance contributions paid in the UK are added together when calculating a person’s entitlement to the state retirement pension. Therefore we do have a record of the number of people who are in receipt of this “split liability” pension.

Please quote the reference number 4359589 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded. If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.
I will now close your request as of this date.

Freedom of Information
Seyrsnys Fysseree

The Treasury Government Office,
Douglas Isle of Man, IM1 3PU

Telephone: (01624) 685605 Email: FOI.Treasury@gov.im

Government Website: www.gov.im

Our ref: 4359589 19 February 2025

Dear ###,

We write further to your request, received 9 January 2025, which states:

"Part 1 How many people are currently in receipt of an Isle of Man state pension? (Before and after 2019 changes)

Part 2 How many people are currently in receipt of The Isle of Man State Pension (before and after the 2019 changes), are also in receipt of a UK Pension. Of these, can you please provide a breakdown of the number of people who receive the different types of UK pensions e.g. UK state retirement pension, UK personal pension, UK occupational pension, etc.

Part 3 Has there been any correspondence between Treasury, Income Tax, National Insurance or Social Security advisors or officers discussing the following items: How many recipients of The Isle of Man State Pension are also in Receipt of a UK State Pension. How this number of beneficiaries could be identified. Might there be any cost savings to the Isle of Man Government, if Isle of Man State Pension payment was removed or reduced if recipients were also in receipt of UK State Pension."

I have detailed below the response to your request.

Part 1 How many people are currently in receipt of an Isle of Man state pension? (Before and after 2019 changes).

The number of people who are currently in receipt of an Isle of Man State pension is already accessible to you. Therefore an exemption under section 20 of the Act (information accessible to applicant by other means) is engaged in relation to this part of your request. The number of people currently in receipt of an Isle of Man state

pension can otherwise be accessed via the following link under the claims tab of the spreadsheet, in row 6 (Manx State Pension – post 2019) and row 16 (Retirement Pension – pre 2019):

https://www.gov.im/media/1383743/benefit-claims-expenditure-2000-to-2024-open- data.xlsx

Part 2 How many people are currently in receipt of The Isle of Man State Pension (before and after the 2019 changes), are also in receipt of a UK Pension.

The most recent complete dataset is from June 2024 which is a report produced annually and concerns the tax year 2022/23. This report showed that 6622 individuals declared a pension from the UK. This would include all types of UK pension – State, Personal, Occupational etc.

Of these, can you please provide a breakdown of the number of people who receive the different types of UK pensions e.g. UK state retirement pension, UK personal pension, UK occupational pension, etc.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible in this instance complying with this part of your request for information would require Treasury to undertake substantial compilation or collation of information that it holds, which Treasury is not required to do under section 8(3)(c) of the Act. In these circumstances, as previously advised, the Treasury may refuse a request on the grounds that a practical refusal reason applies under section 11(3)(b) of the Act. The reason for this is because the database within the Income Tax Division of Treasury shows people who are only in receipt of a UK pension and does not record if it is a state, personal, occupational, etc. pension. This level of information could only be identified by looking at each tax return separately in order to determine if the type of UK pension is recorded. The process the Treasury would need to undertake to compile these records would be a substantial undertaking, which is something we are not required to do under the Act.

Part 3 Has there been any correspondence between Treasury, Income Tax, National Insurance or Social Security advisors or officers discussing the following items: How many recipients of The Isle of Man State Pension are also in Receipt of a UK State Pension. How this number of beneficiaries could be identified. Might there be any cost savings to the Isle of Man Government, if Isle of Man State Pension payment was removed or reduced if recipients were also in receipt of UK State Pension."

The Treasury does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information requested in this part of your FOI request. The reason for this is because there has been no correspondence within Treasury between Social Security Division and the Income Tax Division in relation to the information you are interested in for this part of your request. For this reason, and as previously advised, we need to apply a practical refusal reason to your request under section 11(3)(a) if the Act (information not held).

Please quote the reference number 4359589 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.