HC Deb 23 July 1973 vol 860 cc291-2W
Mr. David Steel

asked the Secretary of Stae for Social Services what are the number of claims for over-80s' pensions and the number of awards that have so far been made.

Mr. Dean

About 183,000 claims and 170,000 awards had been made up to December 1971. Records of new claims and awards have not been maintained

Awards made initially for four weeks at outset of claim Awards reviewed after three months and at that point limited to a further four weeks
Statistical period Awards Appeals* Awards Appeals*
14th October 1968 to 17th December 1968 … 15,724 232† 1,132 —†
18th December 1968 to 18th March 1969 … 23,769 400† 2,132 —†
19th March 1969 to 17th June 1969 … 18,337 308† 1,518 —†
18th June 1969 to 23rd September 1969 … 19,915 243† 1,145 —†
24th September 1969 to 23rd December 1969 … 19,763 157† 1,345 —†
24th December 1969 to 24th March 1970 … 21,681 166 1,532 25
25th March 1970 to 23rd June 1970 … 17,843 163 1,344 37
24th June 1970 to 22nd September 1970 … 20,132 148 1,005 26
23rd September 1970 to 15th December 1970 … 18,904 88 964‡ 25
16th December 1970 to 23rd March 1971 … 21,165 172 672 19
24th March 1971 to 22nd June 1971 … 16,689 223 663 36
23rd June 1971 to 21st September 1971 … 17,087 166 485 16
22nd September 1971 to 14th December 1971 … 10,309 104 367 14
15th December 1971 to 21st March 1972 … 4,620 97 197 8
22nd March 1972 to 20th June 1972 … 1,214 0 310 0
21st June 1972 to 19th September 1972 … 4,321 7 333 4
20th September 1972 to 12th December 1972 … 4,268 38 338 13
13th December 1972 to 20th March 1973 … 3,410 31 251 12
* Appeals are against the refusal of further benefit after the expiry of the limited award.
† Total figures only: separate statistics of appeals in respect of 4 weeks and 3 months limitations were not recorded for these periods.
‡ From November 1970 the figures relate only to cases where the allowance terminated, either because the claimant did not renew his application or, having renewed it, was refused further benefit

since that date, since the numbers are small, but at the end of November 1972, the date of the last count, there were about 125,000 pensions in payment.