§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the savings to the Exchequer resulting from the application of the earnings rule to retirement pensioners when their part-time earnings are (a) between £9.50 and £13.50 a week and (b) when their part-time earnings are more than £13.50 per week.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownAbout £500,000 and £6 million a year respectively; these savings are to the National Insurance Fund.
§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many pensioners at work receive reduced pensions as a result of their earnings.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownApproximately 10,000. About a further 10,000 have their pensions extinguished.
§ Sir B. Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she has made any study of the effect of the application of the earnings rule on the readiness of male and female pensioners to undertake part-time seasonal or full-time work; and if she will publish the findings.
§ Mr. O'MalleyI will consider whether it might be useful to make such a study.
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§ Sir B. Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what are now the numbers of men and women pensioners who lose part or all of their pension entitlement through the operation of the earnings rule; and what estimate she has made of the corresponding numbers if the changes now proposed are implemented;
(2) what is now the number of male and female beneficiaries of national insurance benefits, other than pensioners, who lose part or all of their entitlement through the operation of the earnings rule; and what estimate she has made of the corresponding number if the changes now proposed are implemented.
§ Mr. O'MalleyPrecise information is not available but it is estimated that the number of retirement pensioners whose pension is now reduced or extinguished on account of their own earnings is in the region of 20,000 and that this number might be reduced by up to 5,000 after the proposed changes.
In addition, some 5,000 out of 185,000 increases of benefit payable to invalidity pensioners in respect of their wives are at present subject to reductions under the earnings rule, and a small number of retirement pensioners with working wives under 60 are also affected. Under our proposals, most of these increases will be likely to be restored to the full rate as a result of raising the amount of disregarded earnings from £9.50 to £13 and the remainder will be raised by amounts which will be not less than £3.75 and not more than £4.85, depending on the amount of earnings. In addition, pensioners whose wives earn between £15.25 and £21 will become eligible for payment of increases at rates of up to £4.90 a week; their number cannot be estimated.
§ Sir B. Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what account is taken of income from sources other than current personal earnings during the week of payment in applying the earnings rule.
§ Mr. O'MalleyExcept in the case of increases of invalidity and retirement pensions in respect of dependent adults, where the earnings of the dependant may affect the increase, no income other than personal earnings is taken into account for the earnings rule.
47WIn the case of employed people, earnings in any calendar week may affect the pension due the following week. As regards self-employed people, earnings are similarly related to the pension due in the following week: but, where the remuneration received is in the form of profits. regulations provide that the annual figure of profits, as agreed for income tax purposes, should be accepted as the remuneration for the year, and this figure is then reduced to a weekly amount for earnings rule purposes.