HL Deb 26 November 1981 vol 425 cc923-4WA
Lord Chelwood

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many widows over the age of 60 receive a retirement pension; how many receive the Over 80 State Pension; and how many have become entitled to the latter pension in each of the last three years.

Lord Elton

The available information is given below:—

  1. 1. At November 1980 there were 2,170,000 widows over 60 receiving a retirement pension based solely on their late husband's contributions.
  2. 2. At November 1980 there were 45,590 women (other than married women) without pension on their own contributions receiving the higher rate of over 80's non-contributory retirement pension (November 1980).
  3. 3.The number of women (other than married women) without pension on their own contributions who successfully claimed the higher rate of over 80s 924 non-contributory retirement pension in each of the last three years was:—

1978 2,360
1979 reliable figures not available
1980 2,180 (estimate)

NoteStatistical analyses of retirement pensioners is based not on marital status alone, but rather on the contributory basis on which the pension is payable. Thus, the figures above do not include widows whose pensions are based solely or partly on their own contributions since figures relating to the marital status of women with some entitlement to pension on their own contributions are not separately identified for statistical purposes. Similarly the figures in 2–3 above include single and divorced women who do not have entitlement to pension on their own contributions.