HC Deb 15 June 1993 vol 226 c529W
Mr. Denham

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of(a) men and (b) women in the latest year for which figures are available reached retirement age with entitlement to (i) the full basic state pension, (ii) some state earnings-related pension or additional pension, (iii) an occupational pension and (iv) a personal pension.

Mr. Hague

The information is not available in the form requested.

The available information regarding recipients of basic retirement pension and additional pension resident in Great Britain at 30 September 1992, the latest date for which figures are available, is in the table.

Men aged 65 1Per cent. Women aged 60 1Per cent.
Full category A retirement pension 68.0 16.0
Full category B retirement pension (widow/widower). — 1.5
Full category B retirement pension (married women)2 n/a 7.5
Notional additional pension3 71.5 32.0
1 Figures expressed as percentages of the 1991 based population projections for mid-1992 rounded to the nearest 0.5 per cent. The following main categories of benefit recipients are not shown in the table:
People receiving pension at less than the full rate;
Women receiving pension partly on their own and partly on their husband's contributions;
People receiving invalidity benefit post-pensionable age.
2 The standard rate of category B retirement pension payable to a married woman is approximately 60 per cent. of the full category A rate.
3 The figures relate to notional entitlement to additional pension with retirement pension prior to any contracted-out deduction in respect of guaranteed minimum pension or protected rights payment arising from membership of a contracted-out pension scheme or a personal pension scheme used in place of the additional pension. The numbers therefore include cases where only guaranteed minimum pension or protected rights is in payment.

In 1989, the most recent year for which figures are available, it is estimated that 66 per cent. of men aged 65 to 69, and 36 per cent. of women aged 60 to 64, had entitlement to some occupational pension. Information on numbers of men and women reaching retirement age with a personal pension is not available.