HL Deb 10 December 1985 vol 469 cc104-6

2.42 p.m.

Lord Stallard

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken, and when, to inform British retirement pensioners now living in Canada of any benefits to which some pensioners may be entitled following the abolition of the married women's "half-test."

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, British embassies, high commissions and consulates-general were informed of the abolition of the "half test" by the Central Office of Information during the period 21st October to 31st October this year. They were asked to make the information available to British expatriate retired women by whatever means they thought best. Additionally the information was carried in a number of women's magazines and a daily and Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom, copies of which are distributed abroad, including Canada. Most importantly, the Department of Health and Social Security has sent out over 600 invitations to claim to married women living abroad who were identified as a result of a check of computer records within the department.

Lord Stallard

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that Answer. I can confirm that the British Consulate in Toronto received information in October this year. However, the deadline for claimants to apply for the pension was fixed at 22nd December this year, which is only a couple of weeks away. Everybody else received 12 months' notice of application for claim. Is the noble Baroness the Minister in a position to give the House an assurance that the period of claim will be extended to British pensioners in Canada so that they will have the 12 months' grace as well, and that any claim will be made retrospective to the original date of the award?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I am not in a position to give the noble Lord that assurance. The information available to women living abroad is exactly the same as that which has been available to women in this country. The department has been identifying from its records those people who are eligible to claim. In the event that they have changes of address, or changes of name, this has proved difficult, but the publicity campaign has been conducted in this country at the same time as the publicity campaign overseas.

Baroness Jeger

My Lords, can the noble Baroness tell the House what reports have been received from other countries, such as the United States, New Zealand and Australia, about the effectiveness of this information? In particular will she try to raise with her right honourable friend the possibility of extending this deadline? Although we appreciate the noble Baroness saying that the publicity campaign was equivalent to that in this country, it might have taken a little longer to have got to some of the Commonwealth countries.

Baroness Hooper

Yes, my Lords, I shall certainly pass on the noble Baroness's concern to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State, but in fact every effort has been made, most importantly through the department's own records, but also in every way. Canada is a country where the pensioners' association is particularly active and where writers of newspaper articles and the association itself have done their utmost to disseminate information. I do not have reports from the other countries to which the noble Baroness refers, but I feel sure that the equivalent associations there have been equally active.

Lord Leatherland

My Lords, may I ask the noble Baroness to look at the four final words in my noble friend's Question? Those words are, "the married women's 'half-test'". What is a married woman's "half-test"?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the question is complicated and therefore I must be as careful as possible about the answer. The married women's "half-test" was an additional contribution condition for married women which provided that a married woman not only had to have satisfied the normal conditions for award of a pension, but also had to have paid full-rate contributions in at least half the full contribution years between the date of her marriage and the date of her retirement. It did not apply to women marrying after 57 (and that age limit was reduced in 1975 to 55), but it was still possible for a woman who married late in life and was not aware of the condition to lose the benefit of many years' contributions. For this reason it was widely thought unfair, and was abolished from April 1979. However, the consequences of the test still applied to the pensions of women who reached 60 before then, and that is what this year's Act was about.