Pension Credit (Hansard, 10 November 2003)

§ Mr. Webb
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether local authority housing benefit departments are being automatically supplied by his Department with details of the pension credit receipt of pensioners for the purpose of reassessing housing benefit entitlement; and if he will make a statement. [135908]

§ Mr. Pond
[holding answer 3 November 2003]: We automatically supply local authorities with information about pension credit awards to enable them to determine entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit.
There were some initial technical problems encountered in transmitting information about pension

(a) Number and percentage of all dependent children

1979 1990–91 2001–02

Number of dependent children by economic status of family type

Lone parent

of which:

In full time work 500,000 400,000 600,000

In part timework 400,000 400,000 800,000

Not working 600,000 1,300,000 1,800,000

Couple with children

of which

One or more full-time self-employed 1,200,000 1,700,000 1,500,000

Both in full time work 1,400,000 1,300,000 1,600,000

One in full time work, one in part time work 4,100,000 2,900,000 2,900,000

One in full time work, one not working 4,100,000 2,700,000 2,300,000

One or more in part time work 600,000 300,000 600,000

Other 900,000 1,100,000 800,000

Total 13,800,000 12,000,000 12,800,000

150W
credit awards to local authorities, which affected only a small number of cases and were largely resolved within two weeks. Local authorities have been kept informed of any difficulties, and every effort is being made to resolve remaining minor issues.

§ David Hamilton
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the take-up rate of the pension credit is in the Midlothian constituency.[137127]

§ Malcolm Wicks
The information is not available in the format requested.
Approximately half of all pensioner households across Great Britain are eligible for Pension Credit and stand to gain on average £400 a year. Around 1.9 million Pension Credit awards have already been made to pensioner households across Great Britain as a whole (helping more than 2 million individuals).
The Government has a target for at least 3 million pensioner households to be in receipt of Pension Credit by 2006. We want all those eligible for Pension Credit to take up their entitlement.
We intend to publish monthly reports on the progress of Pension Credit take-on, which will include information on the number of applications. The first such report will be published later this month.

(a) Number and percentage of all dependent children
	1979	1990–91	2001–02
Number of dependent children by economic status of family type
Lone parent
of which:
In full time work	500,000	400,000	600,000
In part timework	400,000	400,000	800,000
Not working	600,000	1,300,000	1,800,000
Couple with children
of which
One or more full-time self-employed	1,200,000	1,700,000	1,500,000
Both in full time work	1,400,000	1,300,000	1,600,000
One in full time work, one in part time work	4,100,000	2,900,000	2,900,000
One in full time work, one not working	4,100,000	2,700,000	2,300,000
One or more in part time work	600,000	300,000	600,000
Other	900,000	1,100,000	800,000
Total	13,800,000	12,000,000	12,800,000