§ 7. Miss Herbisonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he has yet reached a decision on the question of those people who continue to work after normal retiring age and who fail by a narrow margin to obtain their full increments.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterAlthough I understand and sympathise with the intention behind the hon. Lady's Question, I have no statement to make on this subject at present.
§ Miss HerbisonIs the Minister aware that some months ago he gave a promise to the House that he would consider this matter? Surely during that time he ought to have considered it and to have reached a decision. Is he aware that many old people, seventy years of age, who have worked since they were fourteen, are now finding, through no fault of their own, that after they have paid five years' extra contributions they are not getting the retirement pension which they expected to get?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThere is no reason for anybody to expect to get a bigger retirement pension than that to which he is entitled, since the conditions are very widely known. As I said in the main answer, I have some sympathy with what, I think, is the hon. Lady's point about the length of period required in respect of each increment, but she appreciates that this is, perhaps in a small measure, part of the wider problem of the provision for old age to which study is being given.