§ Lord Hoyleasked Her Majesty's Government: How many people in Warrington qualify for pension credit; how many are receiving this; and what is the cost to the taxpayer. [HL3579]
§ Baroness Hollis of Heigham:Estimates of the level of eligibility for pension credit are not available in respect of individual constituencies or local authority areas. However, we estimate that approximately 500,000 households in the north-west region (rounded to the nearest 50,000) are likely to be eligible for pension credit in 2004–05.
At 31 May, 3,995 households in the constituency of Warrington North and 3,456 households in the constituency of Warrington South (rounded to the nearest five) were receiving pension credit, with average awards of £39.42 and £38.50 respectively.
Information on the administrative costs of pension credit is not available. In accordance with the requirements of resource accounting and budgeting, the department now accounts for its administration and benefit expenditure by strategic objective, as set out in its public service agreements (PSA), and by individual requests for resources (RfRs), as set out in the departmental estimates and accounts.