§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the level of(a) basic state pension or equivalent and (b) second state pension paid to (i) a single person and (ii) a couple in (1) the United Kingdom and (2) each other European Union country, expressed (A) in cash, and (B) as a percentage of average earnings. [9350]
§ Mr. HealdThe standard rate of retirement pension for a single pensioner in Great Britain is £61.15 per week, representing 17.4 per cent. of average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees. A couple, where the wife receives a standard rate pension based on her husband's contributions, currently receive £97.75 per week or 27.8 per cent. of average earnings. At 31 March 1996 it is estimated that the average gross weekly additional pension in payment was £18.14 per week or 5.2 per cent. of average earnings.
Information on retirement pensions in EU member states is contained in MISSOC 1995, "Social protection in the Member States of the European Union", published by the European Commission, a copy of which is in the Library. Some details of levels of state pensions as a percentage of earnings are included in this publication; however, because of the diverse nature of state pension schemes in member states, many of which are based on earnings-related calculations, straightforward comparisons of benefit amounts are not possible.
Source:
Earnings figures obtained from the New Earnings Survey, April 1995 and April 1996.
Average weekly net additional pension is obtained from the Retirement Pension Bi-Annual Enquiry, 31 March 1996.
Notes:
1. The 1996 Abstract of Statistics, published in October, shows a different figure for standard rate retirement pension as a percentage of average earnings. This is because the figure published in the 1996 edition of the Abstract of Statistics is based on the provisional level of earnings in April 1996, while this reply uses the final figure.
2. The gross weekly additional pension is the notional amount before the deduction of a contracted out deduction (COD). A COD is deducted when a person has been contracted out of SERPS, the state earnings-related pension scheme, into a contracted-out pension scheme or an appropriate personal pension used in place of SERPS.
765W
§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the income Df each quintile of the pensioner population, expressed in current values and as a percentage of the average earnings of the equivalent quintile of the working age population in(a) 1994 and (b) 2025. [9351]
§ Mr. HealdInformation is not available in the format requested. Estimated mean incomes for quintiles of the single pension and pensioner couple populations are given in the table for 1994 and 2025, at 1996 prices. Also shown in the table are estimates of the growth in mean income in each quintile between 1994 and 2025. All estimates have been made using Pensim, a dynamic simulation model that projects pensioners' incomes into the next century.
Mean net before housing cost income by population quintile: single and couple pensioners 1994–2025, (1996 prices) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Mean Single pensioners 1994 £60 £76 £91 £108 £181 £103 2025 £68 £99 £120 £158 £350 £159 Growth 15 per cent. 30 per cent. 30 per cent. 45 per cent. 95 per cent. 55 per cent. Pensioner couples 1994 £121 £150 £183 £235 £390 £216 2025 £151 £205 £260 £338 £606 £312 Growth 15 per cent. 30 per cent. 35 per cent. 45 per cent. 65 per cent. 45 per cent. 1. Estimates are based on uprated data from the 1988 Family Expenditure Survey, 1988 Retirement Survey and 1987 Social Change and Economic Life Initiative, in order to provide consistent estimates for 1994 and 2025. These estimates are not consistent with the 1994–95 Pensioners' Incomes Series, which is mainly based on data drawn from the 1994–95 Family Expenditure Survey.
2. Pensioners are defined as those single aged at state pension age or above, or couples in which the husband is aged at state pension age or above.
3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £1 and 5 per cent.
4. Quintiles for single pensioners and pensioner couples have been calculated separately—i.e. the bottom quintile of single pensioners represents those pensioners in the bottom 20 per cent. of the income distribution of single pensioners.