§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what administrative obstacles exist to basing the annual uprating of benefits on the retail prices index for the previous December. [117590]
§ Mr. BayleyUsing the RPI for the previous December, which would not be published until mid-January, would seriously disrupt the uprating process. Current arrangement, which base the uprating on September's RPI, published in mid-October, allow for the preparation of the uprating schedule and for the uprating review itself to be completed by the end of November. At the end of November a computer scan is run to identify and uprate pension cases. The scan is required at this time to ensure that order books (which cover 20 weeks) containing foils that pass the uprating date are issued with the correct amounts. Processes for uprating other Social Security benefits are similar.