§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list (a) the number of pensioners claiming additional pensions under the 1975 Act, (b) what percentage this figure is of all pensioners and (c) the average value of an additional pension.
§ Mr. PrenticeIn November 1979, the latest date for which figures are available, about 90,000 retirement pensioners were entitled to an earnings-related additional component under the provisions of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975. This figure represents about one per cent. of 283W all contributory retirement pensioners, excluding those who were only entitled to a graduated retirement pension.
The average entitlement to an additional component was about 70p a week but the average amount in payment was less than this. This is because some 50,500 of the pensioners referred to above were previously in contracted-out employment and entitled to a guaranteed minimum pension payable by an occupational pension scheme which reduced the amount of additional component in payment. In about 9,000 of these cases, no additional component was payable because the guaranteed minimum pension equalled or exceeded it.
At the same date, about 3,500 recipients of widow's benefit (including widowed mother's allowance) were entitled to an additional component. This represents about 0.75 per cent. of all recipients of widow's benefit.
The average entitlement to an additional component was about 82p a week but the average amount of additional component in payment was less than this because some 2,300 of these widows were entitled to a guaranteed minimum pension which reduced the amount of the additional component actually in payment.
The number of invalidity pensioners entitled to an additional component is not available.