§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average length of time taken to fix a retired person's State pension following retirement both at normal retirement age and ages in excess of the normal retirement age.
§ Mr. O'MalleyA person is normally invited to claim retirement pension about four months before minimum pension age Of those who retire at the minimum age about 90 per cent. get their pension with no delay and the remainder normally within four weeks of making a claim.
A person who retires after pension age can usually be paid at an interim rate immediately he notifies retirement and at the full entitlement rate within six to eight weeks. There may be some variations in procedure when supplementary benefit is in payment, and I shall be writing to my hon. Friend about the individual case with which I think he is concerned.