§ Mr. Longdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what pension a single man and married couple, respectively, are actuarially entitled to receive on retirement in 1969 assuming the insured and his employers had duly contributed to the National Insurance Fund since 1948.
§ Mr. EnnalsOn an actuarial calculation, assuming 5 per cent. interest and payment of maximum contributions by the man and his employer, a single man retiring now would receive a pension of 48s. a week and a married couple would receive a joint pension of 37s. a week. The married couple's pension rate assumes that the wife is five years younger than the husband and that she would be able to receive his pension after his death.
§ Mr. Longdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people were in receipt of retirement pensions at the nearest convenient date; and how many of them were also receiving supplementary benefits.
§ Mr. EnnalsCounting a man and his wife both in receipt of retirement pension separately for this purpose there were in March 1969 about 7,015,000 retirement pensioners, of whom 1,984,000 were benefiting from supplementary pension.
§ Mr. Longdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the cost of raising all retirement pensions to £15 and £12, respectively; and, on the basis that the whole of such cost is to be met by the contributions of those still in insurance, and is equally divided between employer and employee, 378W what is his estimate of the weekly contribution of each.
§ Mr. EnnalsApart from consequential effects on other benefits, the cost of increasing the present £5 single person's pension rate to £15 or £12, with a proportionate increase in the married couple's rate in either case, would be of the order of £3,400 million or £2,400 million, respectively, a year. If the cost wereto be met in the way suggested, the flat rate contribution would be increased by 17s. or 12s., respectively, a side.