§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement about the position of occupational pensioners under retirement age in respect of their rights to national insurance sickness benefit, if due to their non-entitlement to unemployment benefit they are not signing on at the unemployment office regularly.
§ Mr. RossiUnemployed people aged 60 or over who would not get unemployment benefit because their occupational pension exceeds the benefit to which they would otherwise be entitled by £35 a week or more can choose whether or not to claim benefit. If they claim benefit, they will be entitled to sickness benefit for any incapacity in the same continuing period of interruption of employment on the basis of their contribution record in the same year as is relevant for unemployment benefit purposes. They will also get credits which count for the purposes of any future benefit claim.
Alternatively, they may choose not to claim benefit but to claim credits only. In that case the credits they get will count for retirement pension but will count for the purposes of a future claim for unemployment or sickness benefit only in certain circumstances, as provided in the credits regulations. This choice is explained in the leaflet NI230 which is given to claimants affected by the occupational pension abatement provisions. In either event they will normally be able to claim quarterly by post.