Reduced Earnings Allowance (Hansard, 23 January 1996)

§ Mr. Roger Evans

The administration of retirement allowance, payable under the industrial injuries scheme, is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Chris Smith, dated 22 January 1996: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking when the Benefits Agency will begin its exercise to identify and review cases where Retirement Allowance (RA) is mistakenly being paid in place of Reduced Earnings Allowance (REA); how long he expects this review to last; how many cases, approximately, he expects to he involved; and how quickly any arrears will be paid to claimants. The Benefits Agency is currently trawling all their Industrial Injuries Benefit cases, approximately 4 million, to identify all RA and REA customers who have attained pension age since April 1989 when RA was introduced. The trawl which started in December 1995 is due to be finished by the end of February 1996. Once amending legislation is in place all identified cases will then be examined and where necessary referred to independent Adjudication Officers who will review the benefit entitlement. The review exercise will be undertaken as soon as possible. Approximately 8,500 RA and 19,000 REA cases will need to he re-examined. It is not possible to say, at this stage, when this exercise will be completed but the situation will be closely monitored. 219W Arrears of benefit will be paid to each customer whose case is favourably reviewed as soon as the mandatory overlapping benefit enquiries have been undertaken. I hope this reply is helpful.