Pensioners (Hansard, 30 November 1989)

§ Mr. Meacher
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners he estimates live on the state retirement pension exclusively; how many live on this pension and income support exclusively; and how many have additional income of up to £5, £5 to £10, £10 to £20, £20 to £50, £50 to £100, £100 to £200 and above £200 per week.

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard
Information is not available in the precise form requested. The latest available information is for 1986:

Per cent.

1. Proportion of Pensioner Tax Units¹ in receipt of Retirement/Pension/Supplementary Benefit only 4

2. Proportion of Pensioner Tax Units in receipt of Retirement Pension /Supplementary Benefit and Housing Benefit only 13

3. Proportion of Pensioner Tax Units who have income² additional to Retirement Pension/ Supplementary Benefit and Housing Benefit, in stated ranges:—

£0.01 to £5 per week 18

£5 to £10 per week 9

£10 to £20 per week 13

£20 to £50 per week 19

£50 to £100 per week 12

£100 to £200 per week 9

£200 plus per week 4

Source: Family Expenditure Survey 1986.

Notes:

¹ A pensioner tax unit is the unit on which tax is assessed; in this context where the head of the tax unit is over pensionable age and the tax unit receives some Retirement Pension.

² At 1986 prices.

§ Mr. Aitken
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) approximately how many pensioners over 75 years have applied for the new £3.50 per week supplement introduced in the Budget; and how many of these applications have been successful;
(2) approximately how many pensioners over 75 years have applied for the new £3.50 per week supplement introduced earlier in the current year in the Budget; and how many of these applications have been successful.

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard
Around 2.5 million pensioners who were already entitled to income support or housing benefit will have benefited automatically from the premium changes introduced in October. These changes applied to pensioners aged 75 or over and to disabled pensioners aged 60 or over. Single people will have received an increase of up to £2.50 a week and couples an increase of up to £3.50 a week.
Information is not yet available on which to estimate the number of pensioners who newly qualified for benefit 371W from October as a result of the changes. However, over the four months from the start of the publicity campaign in July until the end of October a total of 579,000 claims for income support were received from pensioners, of which 196,000 were successful. This compares with a total of 66,000 successful claims over the previous four months. Information on new claims for housing benefit is not yet available.

	Per cent.
1. Proportion of Pensioner Tax Units¹ in receipt of Retirement/Pension/Supplementary Benefit only	4
2. Proportion of Pensioner Tax Units in receipt of Retirement Pension /Supplementary Benefit and Housing Benefit only	13
3. Proportion of Pensioner Tax Units who have income² additional to Retirement Pension/ Supplementary Benefit and Housing Benefit, in stated ranges:—
£0.01 to £5 per week	18
£5 to £10 per week	9
£10 to £20 per week	13
£20 to £50 per week	19
£50 to £100 per week	12
£100 to £200 per week	9
£200 plus per week	4
Source: Family Expenditure Survey 1986.
Notes:
¹ A pensioner tax unit is the unit on which tax is assessed; in this context where the head of the tax unit is over pensionable age and the tax unit receives some Retirement Pension.
² At 1986 prices.