§ 43. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the purchasing value of the pensions of the single retired person at the latest available date compared with its value in October, 1971; and what percentage change this represents.
§ Mr. DeanOn the basis of the movement in the General Index of Retail Prices up to February, 1972, £5.87; a percentage fall of 2.1 per cent. since October, 1971.
§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the present real value of the basic retirement pension as compared with the figure for 1965; and if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the relationship between the basic pension 142W and annual average earnings in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. DeanOn the basis of the movement in the General Index of Retail Prices to February, 1972, the real value of the retirement pension for a single person is 18p higher and that for a married couple 25p higher than immediately following the March, 1965, uprating.
The following table shows the relationship of the basic retirement pension for a single person and married couple to the gross amount of adult male average earnings* at each October since 1962
Retirement Pension as percentage of average earnings October Single Married 1962 18.1 29.2 1963 20.2 32.5 1964 18.6 30.1 1965 20.4 33.2 1966 19.7 32.0 1967 21.1 34.2 1968 19.6 31.7 1969 18.1 29.4 1970 17.8 28.9 1971— Under 80 19.4 31.4 Over 80 20.2 33.0 * Based on the Department of Employment's inquiry into average earnings of full-time manual wage earners in manufacturing and some of the principal non-manufacturing industries conducted in October each year.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why the increased retirement pension and supplementary pension cannot be paid until October; and whether he will take action to advise the Post Office to over stamp with a rubber dated stamp the additional amounts of such increases to all recipients of these social security payments.
§ Mr. DeanNo. When my right hon. Friend announced last December our decision to initiate regular annual reviews of pension and other benefit rates he made it clear that the increases would normally take effect in November but that this year the increases would be in October—midway between the 1971 and 1973 upratings.—[Vol. 828, c. 852–9.]