§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether his Department operates computer systems with a view to establishing the identity 75W of potential beneficiaries who are not claiming all the allowances to which they are entitled; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonThe Department is constantly exploring ways of alerting potential beneficiaries to their entitlements. As our strategy for social security operations brings further computer assistance to benefit administration, we intend to provide service to the "whole person", rather than treating each benefit claim in isolation.
Prospective pensioners who have paid national insurance contributions at any point in their lifetime are identified by computer, and 4 months before they reach pension age, are automatically sent an invitation to claim. In 1982 the child benefit computer records were scanned and a letter sent to all parents not claiming one-parent benefit but whose child benefit books were in one name only. 8,000 successful claims for one-parent benefit resulted from this exercise. On a smaller scale we have developed an experimental micro-computer welfare benefits information system which is currently on trial at a number of sites across the country. The results of an independent evaluation of the system are expected in the Spring.