§ 52. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received from pensioners' organisations concerning the proposed clawback from the 1983 pensions proposals; and what reply he has made.
§ Mr. BrittanThere is no clawback. My right hon. and learned Friend is aware of comments made by a number of pensioners' organisations on the proposed adjustment to the 1983 benefit uprating. Most of these representations have not been made directly to him, but the Secretary of State for Social Services and he will naturally take them into account in determining the level of the uprating at November 1983. Where the Chancellor of the Exchequer has responded to representations made directly to him, he has explained that decisions about the increases in benefits in November 1983 will have regard to the fact that the forecast increase in prices over the year November 1981 to November 1982, on which the November 1982 uprating was based, exceeded the actual rise in prices over that period. The precise extent of the uprating for individual benefits will be announced as usual by the Secretary of State for Social Services in his uprating statement, which is made following his review of the current benefit rates.