Select Committee on Work and Pensions Third Report


Conclusions and recommendations

1.  We welcome the fact that the Pension Credit has increased the incomes of many pensioners. (Paragraph 19)

2.  The Committee recommends that the Department publishes separate statistics on pensioner poverty for the first and second halves of 2003-04 to give a better indication of any early impact of the Pension Credit on pensioner poverty. (Paragraph 22)

3.  The introduction of Pension Credit has gone smoothly and the Pension Service has provided a good quality of service for many pensioners. The Committee recommends that further work is done soon to improve the accuracy and quality of completed claim forms being sent out to claimants. (Paragraph 40)

4.  The Committee recommends that a freephone number for contacting Pension Centres be provided by 1 October 2005. The Committee also recommends that procedures are reviewed by 1 May 2006 to ensure that complaints about delays in applications and queries about the correctness of awards are dealt with swiftly.. (Paragraph 41)

5.  The Committee recommends that in the course of its audit of accuracy of Pension Credit awards, the NAO should investigate and publish the extent of inaccuracy due to undiscovered entitlement to 'qualifying benefits' such as Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance. (Paragraph 42)

6.  The Committee recommends that new technology allowing award letters to be amended by staff should be prioritised and customer representative groups consulted on future output. (Paragraph 43)

7.  The Committee recommends that the Department review the information, training, and supervision provided to Pension Service staff to ensure they are able to provide good quality information on more complex issues and on disability and carer's benefits. (Paragraph 44)

8.  In the absence of a 'high street' presence, the Committee recommends that the Department do more actively to promote the availability of home visits, details of Local Service Information Points and arrangements for verifying documents locally. (Paragraph 56)

9.  The Committee recommends that the Pension Service should monitor the Local Service Partnership working, carefully evaluate its impact on sources of advice and advocacy, and then by 1 July 2006 develop a plan for improving partnership in areas where it may be found to be weak. (Paragraph 61)

10.  The Committee recommends that, by 1 October 2005, to help increase confidence, the Department prepares and publishes the business case for reducing staff to 14,605 by March 2006, including a plan to deal with weaknesses such as current case backlogs. (Paragraph 76)

11.  The Committee recommends that staff reductions are postponed if there is any further delay to implementation of Pensions Transformation Programme or, if it proves unable to deliver the expected efficiencies, or if there are signs that the quality of service is deteriorating. (Paragraph 82)

12.  We urge the Government to make an announcement by 1 June 2005 on the share of cuts across DWP, and that staff at non-transformation Pension Centres should be kept fully informed throughout the process of change. (Paragraph 88)

13.  We welcome the assurance that there will be no further reductions in front-line Local Service staff, but recommend that there should be more consultation with national and local partners on service delivery. (Paragraph 98)

14.  We recommend that DWP establishes a 'standards committee' (including voluntary organisations and local authorities) tasked with producing six-monthly reports on how the Pension Service is proceeding with its programme of efficiencies and the impact this is having on the service it is able to provide. (Paragraph 100)

15.  We recommend that by 1 October 2005, the DWP establishes a target based on the amount of Pension Credit unclaimed, and that the Family Resources Survey be used to gain a better understanding of overall take-up of means-tested benefits by pensioner households (including Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit) in order that resources to increase take-up can be focused on those who are missing out on the largest amounts. Government estimates suggest that about one and a half million people are not receiving the Pension Credit to which they are entitled. The current strenuous efforts to increase take-up must continue to ensure this figure is reduced. (Paragraph 109)

16.  We recommend that the Government undertakes and then publishes research providing estimates of eligibility for Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, and of the potential impact of this on Pension Credit eligibility, and soon thereafter announces a take-up target for disability benefits. (Paragraph 113)

17.  The Committee acknowledges the value of take-up targets for Pension Credit but recommends that they should be set at a more challenging level, supported by the necessary resources to make them attainable. (Paragraph 116)

18.  Given the advantages for benefit take-up, the Committee recommends that guaranteed funding should be provided to enable the Pensions Transformation Programme to be implemented as originally planned, without a break between Waves 1-2 and 3-5. (Paragraph 133)

19.  The Committee recommends that the Pension Service should be allowed to accept recent assessments of income and capital made for the purpose of assessing claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. (Paragraph 134)

20.  The Committee recommends that the process for establishing entitlement to the carer's addition in Pension Credit should be streamlined. (Paragraph 135)

21.  The Committee recommends the transfer from Income Support to Pension Credit should be automatic, with steps taken to contact individuals for any extra information required. (Paragraph 136)

22.  We recommend that DWP discontinues the requirement that people who need to open an account in order to receive payments of Pension Credit have a telephone discussion with Conversion Centre staff before making a decision. DWP should provide a letter giving a detailed explanation of choices about the types of accounts available. The freephone number should remain for customers who have further queries or remain unsure about their options. (Paragraph 146)

23.  We recommend that DWP works with Social Services Departments and Post Office Ltd to try to find a solution to the difficulties faced by pensioners who need their money collected by a third party. (Paragraph 148)

24.  The Committee recommends that the Department should do more to publicise the Exceptions Service. (Paragraph 149)

25.  We welcome the fact that it may be possible for replacement payments to be delivered though a home visit. We urge the Government to publicise its guidance on the Exceptions Service as soon as possible. We recommend that pensioners being paid under the Exceptions Service should be sent cheques in batches of four. (Paragraph 152)

26.  The Committee recommends that in its work on benefit simplification, the Department focuses on reducing the complexities in the interaction between Pension Credit and other benefits. We recommend in particular that the Department consider the case for harmonising the treatment of capital and assumed income from savings, setting out fully any arguments for differences, and considering whether these are outweighed by the advantages of having the same treatment across all benefits and care charges. (Paragraph 161)

27.  The Committee is concerned that the Department has not achieved its intended aim of ensuring that pensioners in residential care gain from Pension Credit in the same way as other pensioners and recommends that the Department enter into discussions with the Department of Health to address this. The Committee remains concerned at the low level of the Personal Expenses Allowance and repeats the recommendation of the Social Security Committee that the Government should 'conduct research to establish the amount necessary to enable pensioners in institutional care to live their lives with dignity.' (Paragraph 167)

28.  The Committee repeats the recommendation in its previous report that the Government reconsiders the treatment of earnings in Pension Credit, with particular account being taken of the number of Pension Credit claimants who might wish to engage in paid work, the possible impact of this on pensioner poverty and the extent to which the current rules are understood and provide the right incentives. (Paragraph 170)

29.  We recommend that, by 1 April 2006, the Government brings the length of time for which Pension Credit can remain in payment during a temporary absence abroad into line with Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, namely 13 weeks. (Paragraph 173)

30.  The Committee recommends that the Government produces projections of the trends of women's pensions in the future, reflecting the varied position of women in different circumstances, for example, according to marital status, age and ethnic group. (Paragraph 177)

31.  The Committee recommends that the Government by April 2006 provides detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages for women in different situations (for example, by age, marital status and ethnic group) of the two key proposed ways forward - creating a more inclusive system of credits within the current contributory system versus introducing a universal or citizen's pension. (Paragraph 186)

32.  The Committee recommends that the Government should consult on the case for changing the way in which Savings Credit is calculated, so that qualifying income above the level of the Basic State Pension actually in payment is rewarded and particular attention should be given to whether this would send a clear message to younger women of the rewards for saving. (Paragraph 193)

33.  The Committee recommends that the Department, in conjunction with the Pension Commission, attempts to quantify the relative importance of the tax, tax credit and benefit system in influencing individuals' retirement saving decisions. (Paragraph 196)

34.  The Committee recommends that, in order to help individuals plan ahead, the Government should provide details of the likely direction of future reform and some indication of when this might be possible, for example at what time the current primary focus of eradicating abject pensioner poverty might be sufficiently met. (Paragraph 201)



 
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