§ Mr. WicksTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the retirement pension for a single person and a couple would be in April 1993 if it had continued to he uprated with earnings or prices, whichever was the higher, since the link was broken.
§ Miss WiddecombeFigures for April 1993 are not yet available. The current—April 1992—rates of basic retirement pension would be £71 for a single person and £113.65 for a couple. This would cost a man on average earnings and his employer an extra £11.20 per week between them in national insurance contributions.
Note:
There are no "single" or "couple" rates of Retirement Pension. The standard pension is calculated on the basis of individual contribution records or, in the case of some married women, on the basis of their husbands' contributions. Adult dependency additions may be awarded where the wife of a pensioner is under pension age. The rates quoted are those which would be payable (a) on the basis of a person's own contributions (assuming the contribution conditions were fully satisfied) and (b) the total of (a) plus a pension based on a husband's contributions or an adult dependency increase.