§ Mr. Stanbrookasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of persons to whom the rule applies that those in receipt of occupational pensions should forfeit £1 of unemployment benefit for every £1 by which their occupational pension exceeds £35 weekly; and what is his estimate of the number if the rule were to apply only after one year's unemployment.
§ Mr. RossiAt May 1982 there were some 12,500 claimants whose unemployment benefit was either reduced or extinguished because they were receiving occupational pensions of over £35 a week. In addition, there were some 12,000 occupational pensioners who were not claiming benefit, which would have been extinguished, but were instead claiming credits only. A claimant is not entitled to unemployment benefit for more than one year in any period of interruption of employment, so the abatement provision could not generally be effective if it applied only after a year's unemployment.