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SOCIAL SECURITY
Child Support Agency
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the total number of cases dealt with by the Child Support Agency since it was established, within (a) the Newbury parliamentary constituency, (b) the area of Newbury district council and (c) the area of Berkshire county council. [28906]
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ann Chant to Mr. David Rendel, dated 10 May 1996:
I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Child Support Agency cases.
Information in the form you have requested is not routinely kept, nor is it readily available.
Every case the Agency deals with involves at least two clients who may live in very different parts of the country. Our cases are allocated to an office on the basis of the location of the home of the parent with care. The Agency's work is dealt with by six Child Support Agency Centres (CSACs), each supported by Divisional and Field offices, dealing with particular geographical locations. Plymouth CSAC covers the Southwest and Central Southern regions. It has a Field office in Newbury, but the boundaries of this office do not correspond to any or all of the three areas you mention.
When the Agency was established, the Field offices dealt only with cases requiring local contact. The majority of work was dealt with by the CSAC. Since June 1995, Newbury Field office has dealt with pre maintenance assessment work in its area and has kept figures on the number of cases it has dealt with since then. Such figures, however, only relate to the area covered by the office and not the areas specified in your question.
National Insurance
Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many employers make national insurance contributions; and what would be the yield from removing the present cap on employers' contributions. [28311]
Mr. Heald: There is no upper earnings limit on the payment of national insurance contributions by employers: the limit applies only to employees. It is estimated that in any one week in the year 1996-97 some 18.6 million employees will pay contributions and that of those 3.2 million will have earnings above the upper earnings limit.
If the upper earnings limit on employees' contributions were removed, it is estimated that an extra £3.25 billion would be collected in a full year. 1
Note:
1 Assumes that the current 10 per cent. contribution rate would apply to earnings above the upper earnings limit.
Maternity Pay
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much has been paid by employers of (a) under 100 employees, (b) under 50 employees and (c) under 10 employees, since the withdrawal of reimbursement of statutory maternity pay. [28750]
Mr. Heald: The information is not available in the format requested.
13 May 1996 : Column: 368
Small businesses which pay annual national insurance contributions of £20,000 or less are still able to obtain full reimbursement of their statutory maternity pay costs. For employers paying more than £20,000, the reimbursement rate was reduced to 92 per cent. from 4 September 1994 to meet the cost of improving maternity pay for employees as a result of the Government's implementation of the EC pregnant workers directive. The first full year following the change has just ended and any information about employers's payments will not be available until end-of-year-returns have been submitted and assessed.
Mrs. Roche:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to amend the small employers' relief scheme for statutory maternity pay. [28751]
Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security on how many occasions since 1979 a benefit has been reduced in cash terms. [28632]
Mr. Burt:
A comparison of the main benefit rates payable in 1978 and 1996, is made in the 1995-96 departmental report (HMSO, CM3213, March 1996), a copy of which is in the Library. The table (Fig. 20) shows no reduction in the main benefits in cash terms over that period.
Mr. Gapes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners are currently in receipt of SERPS pensions; what is the average weekly payment; and what was the equivalent figure in (a) 1985 and (b) 1990. [28892]
| Number of pensioners | Net average weekly payment | |
|---|---|---|
| September 1995 | 4,584,700 | £9.33 |
| September 1990 | 3,066,050 | £4.88 |
| September 1985 | 1,443,650 | £1.89 |
Notes:
1. Figures are for all countries. The sample size for 1985 and 1990 was 10 per cent. The sample size for 1995 was 5 per cent.
2. The net payment is the amount of additional pension paid after the deduction of a contracted out deduction (COD). A COD is deducted when a person has been contracted out of SERPS into a contracted-out pension scheme or an appropriate personal pension used in place of SERPS.
Source:
Retirement Pensions Statistics.
Mr. Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the percentage of pension income of newly retired pensioners, excluding the basic state pension, which was represented by SERPS payments, in the most recent year; and what were the equivalent figures in (a) 1985 and (b) 1990. [28894]
Mr. Heald: The information is not available in the format requested.
13 May 1996 : Column: 369
| Recently retired pensioner units | 1981 | 1987 | 1990 | 1993 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pensioner couples | 57 | 50 | 53 | 52 |
| Single pensioners | 58 | 59 | 61 | 65 |
| All pensioner units | 58 | 53 | 55 | 55 |
Notes:
1. Recently retired pensioner units are defined as being single women aged 60-64, single men aged 65-69 and couples in which the husband is aged 65-69.
2. Pension income has been defined for this purpose as being the sum of total State Retirement Pension receipt and occupational pension payments.
3. Figures are rounded to the nearest whole per cent.
4. No information is available for 1985 as the Pensioners' Income Series was not compiled for this year.
5. Estimates drawn from the PI 1993 are subject to a large degree of statistical variability, particularly in relation to recently retired pensioners because of the limited sample size, and co comparisons of estimates from different years may not give reliable results.
Sources:
Pensioners' Income Series--1981, 1987, 1990, 1993.
Mr. Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average weekly SERPS pension paid to those who retired in the most recent year; and what was the equivalent figure in (a) 1985 and (b) 1990. [28893]
Mr. Heald: The information is not available in the format requested. Figures are not available for 1990 as the movement tables were not produced due to the change from the existing pensions computer system to the pensions strategy computer system which took place during the period 1989 to 1992.
| Year ending | Number of pensioners | Net average weekly payment (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 31 March 1995 | 322,890 | 11.92 |
| 31 March 1985 | 251,510 | 2.35 |
Notes:
1. Figures are for all countries and the numbers of pensioners relate to the number of awards of retirement pension in the period.
2. The net payment is the amount of additional pension paid after the deduction of a contracted out deduction (COD). A COD is deducted when a person has been contracted out of SERPS into a contracted-out pension scheme or an appropriate personal pension used in place of SERPS.
3. The figures for 1985 were collected on a yearly basis ending March. The movement tables are now issued every six months. To enable a comparison to be made with the earlier figures, the 6 monthly figures of September '94 and March '95 have been added together, with the average payment being recalculated accordingly.
Source:
Retirement Pension Statistics--Movement Tables.
13 May 1996 : Column: 370
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