§ Mr. ClayTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much retirement pension would be for(a) a single person and (b) a couple if it had been uprated by earnings or inflation, whichever was the higher, since 1980.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardAt April 1990 the retirement pension would have been £58.65 for a single person and £94.05 for a couple, had the retirement pension been raised by the higher of the movement in earnings or prices since 1980.
It should be noted that any such cost would attract consequent increase in the national insurance contribution. It is estimated that the necessary increase in contribution rate to support the additional cost in 1990 would be 1.25 per cent. and 1.45 per cent. on the basic rate of employees' and employers' contributions respectively, increasing them to 10.25 per cent. and 11.9 per cent. respectively. This would have meant, for example, a contribution increase for an employee on average earnings of £3.18 per week, together with an additional contribution of £4.35 per week for his employer.