§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the net saving to public expenditure of raising the state pension age to(a) 66 and (b) 67 years from 2039. [90188]
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of pensioner benefit units claiming Income Support, where the head of household is over 80 years, receive(a) at least one full basic state pension and (b) some payment of basic state pension. [90189]
§ Mr. TimmsThe information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is in the table.
The proportion of claimants aged over 80 in receipt of Income Support and retirement pension Pensioners Number Total Income Support claimants over 80 593,000 Percentage receiving a full basic State pension 87.7 Percentage receiving an element of the basic State pension 8.8 Percentage not in receipt of any basic State pension 3.6
Number of primary benefit recipients where marital breakdown is available Income Support(February 1999) Jobseeker's Allowance(November 1998) 1 Family Credit (February 1999) Disability Working Allowance (January 1999)2 Married men with children3 163,000 138,000 298,000 3,743 Married women with children3 36,000 8,000 90,000 582 Single men with children3 59,000 4,000 16,000 217 Single women with children3 977,000 10,000 385,000 1,991 Single men less than 65 626,000 683,000 16,000 4,776 Single women less than 60 1,367,000 227,000 385,000 5,558 Married male pensioners4 126,000 n/a n/a 15 Married female pensioners4 19,000 n/a n/a 15 Single male pensioners4 205,000 n/a n/a 7 Single female pensioners4 1,083,000 n/a n/a 26 1All Jobseeker's Allowance cases are shown and may therefore include some cases where nil benefit is in payment but the claimant signs for National Insurance Contributions only. 2Numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand except Disability Working Allowance where exact figures have been provided. 3Dependent children are defined as aged 0–18 years. 4Pensioners are defined as men aged 65 and over, and women aged 60 and over. Notes:
1. Primary benefit recipients have been interpreted as being the benefit claimant.
2. Family Credit figures reflects the gender of the main earner when in practice the primary recipient is normally the female.
Sources:
1. Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, February 1999
2. Jobseeker's Allowance Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, November 1998
3. Family Credit 5 per cent. sample of all awards as at February 1999
4. Disability Working Allowance 100 per cent. count of claims as at January 1999
614WNotes:
1. The table shows information relating to the type of pension received by the claimant only, rather than the benefit unit. Of the claimants aged over 80, 31,000 have partners of pension age, of whom 30,000 are receiving some State pension. Information on the type of pension in payment to a partner cannot be included in the table, as the sampling methods used to obtain this information relate to individual pensioners, not benefit units.
2. Estimates of the number of Income Support claimants aged over 80 years, and the number of partners, are rounded to the nearest thousand.
3. Estimates of Income Support and State Pension caseloads are based on a 5 per cent. sample size, and are therefore subject to a degree of error.
Sources:
1. Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiry February 1999
2. Pensions Strategy Computer System January 1999