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17 Jul 2003 : Column 556W—continued
Pension Credit
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place a copy of the pension credit application form in the Library. [116725]
Malcolm Wicks:
A copy of the Pension Credit Application form is available in the Library. This application form is only for the period of advance applications (7 April to 5 October 2003) and will be replaced on the 6 October 2003. A copy of the new form will be placed in the Library when it is available. The supplementary forms also placed in the Library are used
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depending on the pensioners circumstances and have been created to reduce the complexity of the main application form for many pensioners.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost of postage for (a) writing to all those aged 60 and over to tell them about their possible entitlement to pension credit and (b) the return of the pension credit application form by freepost. [126387]
Malcolm Wicks: It is currently estimated that the postage costs of sending direct mail packs about Pension Credit will be in the region of £1.33 million to the end of May 2004 and that the postage costs of returning completed forms by freepost will be in the region of £0.67 million to the end of May 2004.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payment options are available to people filling in the pension credit application form who tick the box in part 13B stating that they do not agree to having their money paid direct into any type of account. [126388]
Malcolm Wicks: The normal method of payment of Pension Credit will be by direct payment into an account. There are a number of types of account available. Customers who contact the Pension Credit application line are taken through a discussion which covers general aspects of current accounts, basic bank accounts and the Post Office card account to make them aware of the options open to them. Customers who indicate that they do not agree to their money being paid direct into an account can be paid by order book in the short term. It is explained to them that the Department is in the process of inviting all its customers to convert to direct payment and that order books and giro cheques will eventually be phased out by spring 2005. We have always recognised that there will be a small number of people who we cannot pay directly into an account. We will develop an alternative method of pay to this group, which can be accessed at Post Office branches.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb), of 10 July 2003, columns 979–80W, what proportion of pensioners are estimated to be affected by each of the significant changes that must be reported to the Pension Service by a Pension Credit recipient; and what proportion of pensioners are affected by one or more of them each year. [126623]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested however it is estimated that, in one year, 0.2 per cent. of the Pension Credit caseload will report a marriage or divorce, 1.2 per cent. death of a partner, 10 per cent. will report admission to a care home and 11 per cent. admission to hospital.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his written statement of 14 July 2003, Official Report, columns 6–7WS, on the pension credit, how many of the pensioner households ready to be paid pension credit from October are (a) existing recipients of minimum income guarantee and (b) non-recipients of minimum income guarantee. [127040]
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Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available at this stage in the advance application period in the form requested. We intend from November to publish monthly reports on the progress of Pension Credit take-on, which will include a more detailed breakdown.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are being taken to minimise the potential for pension credit fraud in advance of its introduction. [124840]
Mr. Pond: The Pension Service has established a programme protection strategy which will help combat fraud in claims to pension credit.
The strategy is aimed at maximising the opportunities provided, in the course of contacts with all customers, to support them in getting the claims correct at the outset, and in keeping those claims correct through the life of the claim. A programme of case management using scans based on data matching of internal and external data sources, together with regular case checks on areas of established risk, will limit the opportunities for fraud.
Pension Service
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many hours of staff absence there have been among Pension Service employees each month in the last two years. [121497]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. However, the average working days lost for the whole period April 2002 to March 2003 was 9.9.
Pensioners
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answers of 7 April 2003, Official Report, column 88W, and 2 July 2003, Official Report, column 346W, on pensioners, if he will break down the column headed income related benefit savings into (a) the guarantee element of the pension credit, (b) the savings element of the pension credit, (c) housing benefit and (d) council tax benefit. [125655]
Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is set out in the following table.
Notes:
1. The figures are in 2002–03 price terms. The totals are rounded to the nearest £100 million, except 2003–04 which is rounded to the nearest £10 million. The totals may not sum due to rounding. Housing benefit and council tax benefit figures are rounded to the nearest £10 million. Pension Credit figures are rounded to the nearest £100 million, except in 2003–04 and 2004–05 which are rounded to the nearest £10 million.
2. Income related benefit offsets are calculated using the DWP's Policy Simulation model for 2003–04. Calculations assume Pension Credit is in place for the full financial year 2003–04 and that the starting point of the savings credit increases to the new value of the basic State Pension.
3. The income related benefit offsets are assumed to remain a constant proportion of the additional expenditure on the basic State Pension in future years as a result of introducing an earnings link in April 2003. The split between the guarantee credit and the savings credit is assumed to remain constant in future years.
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Pensions
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) pursuant to Working and Saving for Retirement: Action on Occupational Pensions, if his plans to ease the indexation requirements will apply to an individual's accrued rights prior to the implementation of his reforms; [121119]
(2) pursuant to Working and Saving for Retirement: Action on Occupational Pensions, if it is his intention to allow firms to protect part of an individual's pension contribution at 5 per cent. and the rest at 2.5 per cent. [121120]
Malcolm Wicks: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made clear in his statement to the House on 11 June 2003, Official Report, column 682, the proposals in the Action Plan for Occupational Pensions for relaxing the mandatory indexation requirements will not affect pensions in payment, nor the value of existing accrued rights. The value of 5 per cent. protection to the date the new mandatory minimum cap takes effect must be safeguarded.
As he also made clear, the proposed changes to Section 67 of the Pensions Act will allow schemes significantly more scope to achieve simplification by restructuring benefits. Schemes should be able to translate accrued entitlement into rights of equivalent value provided they continue to meet the applicable legislative requirements, including those concerning annual increases in accrued rights.
Subject to the indexation requirements, it will continue to be for schemes to determine the level to which an individual's pension in payment is protected from inflation. Some schemes choose—and will continue to choose—to protect members' pensions at a level above the legislative requirement.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to issue (a) a further response to the consultation on the Pensions Green Paper (Cm 5677) and (b) a White Paper on pensions; and if he will make statement. [126466]
Malcolm Wicks:
The Government published its response to the Pensions Green Paper on 11 June 2003. The document, Simplicity, security and choice: Working and saving for retirement—Action on occupational pensions (Cm 5677), sets out the timetable of our reform programme, on which we will make further announcements in due course.
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