§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of how many pensioners whose income has been affected by delays in the implementation of the NIRS2 system will have died before they receive(a) repayment and (b) compensation where it is due; and in how many of these cases the estate will revert to the Treasury. [69297]
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if widows who have had to choose between receiving widows' pension, or receiving retirement pension without access to their and their husband's full national insurance contribution records, as a result of delays to the implementation of NIRS2, will be allowed to change their decision once the system is fully operational. [69296]
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§ Mr. TimmsWhere a widow has had to make the choice between remaining in receipt of Widow's Benefit, transferring to Retirement Pension or deferring her pension to accrue increments based on incomplete information because of the NIRS2 problems, and her choice is shown to be disadvantageous to her when full details are known, she will be able to review her decision and revise her choice from the original date if she so wishes.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the indicator period set for each contributions-based benefit which the delay in payment of benefit due to the failure of the NIRS2 computer system must exceed in order for the possibility of compensation to be considered. [69298]
§ Mr. TimmsOn Monday 1 February, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security announced a scheme to pay flat rate compensation of £10 to all Retirement Pensioners, Widows Benefit beneficiaries and Incapacity Benefit recipients who have suffered an unreasonable delay as a result of the problems with NIRS2.
Within the normal Departmental Compensation Scheme, the indicator period which has to be exceeded before payment of compensation is considered is as follows:
Period Retirement Pension 8 months Widows Benefit 4 months Incapacity Benefit 4 months Jobseeker's Allowance 3 months Information on the indicator periods for all benefits is contained in leaflet GL22 "Tell us your comments and complaints", which is available from Benefit Agency offices.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps the Contributions Agency plans to take to recover the cost of compensating benefit recipients who have lost out as a result of delays in the implementation of the NIRS2 system, from Andersen Consulting. [69300]
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost to the Contributions Agency of compensating all benefit recipients who have lost out as a result of delays in the implementation of the NIRS2 system. [69299]
§ Mr. TimmsFull details of the additional compensation scheme announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security on Monday 1 February have not yet been finalised. Our best estimate is that the costs will be between £3 million and £4 million. Estimates of administration costs and additional amounts payable through the existing Departmental arrangements will be made when details of the scheme are finalised.