§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the real purchasing power of the retirement pension for a married couple and a single person as compared with its value in 1979.
§ Mr. RossiTable 5.1 of the Department's Abstract of Statistics for Index of Retail Prices, Average Earnings, Social Security Benefits and Contributions, a copy of which is in the Library, sets out the equivalent value at November 1981 prices of the basic retirement pension levels for a single person and a married couple for each uprating date since 1948. This shows the present rates of basic pension to be worth 5p more for a single person and 6p more for a married couple than the equivalent real value of the rates set in November 1978.
On the assumption of a 9 per cent. increase in the general index of retail prices between November 1981 and November 1982, the basic pension rates proposed for November 1982 will in real terms be worth 6p more both for a single person and for a married couple than the equivalent real value of the rates set in November 1979.