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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