§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost to the Exchequer is of the granting of automatic national insurance contribution credits to those aged between 60 and 65 years. [133534]
§ Mr. PondThese credits were introduced in 1983 to remove the need for many men in the 60 to 65 age-group, whose occupational retirement age was 60, to register as unemployed solely in order to obtain unemployment credits. These automatic credits effectively replaced unemployment credits for the majority of these men. We are unable to estimate the cost because not all people who are awarded these credits need them for benefit purposes.