§ Ms SquireTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the administrative cost of allowing pensioners a choice between receiving the Winter Fuel Payment and free television licence or a higher rate of state retirement pension. [159665]
§ Mr. DarlingThe estimated costs are in the table.
322W
£ million Cost category Year one cost Annual cost thereafter1 System changes2 6.0 0.0 Sending out mail-shot to 10.5 million pensioners3 9.0 9.0 Processing the responses to the mail-shot4 89.0 89.0 Totals 104.0 98.0 1 The costing assumes that pensioners would be assessed annually. 2 This cost covers the IT changes to DSS computer systems which would need to be made in order to give pensioners the option of how the payments were made to them. Several different computer systems would need to be partially recoded. The cost here relates mainly to man hours dedicated to recoding. We have assumed that these system changes would be made in such a way as to allow pensioners to subsequently change their payment option without further need for recoding.
3 This covers the cost of mailing forms to 10.5 million pensioners every year asking them to choose how the payments, are made to them.
4 This covers the costs of processing the responses to the annual mailshot and would be the largest single component of the extra cost. It is estimated that, to the extent that processing 10.5 million payment request options every year was possible at all, it would require the equivalent of an additional 3,000 full-time civil servants.