§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the reasons for rounding the retirement pension to the nearest 5p and the war disablement pension to the nearest 10p.
§ Miss WiddecombeRounding is done for administrative simplicity. In any one year an individual beneficiary may gain or lose very marginally, but even this effect will tend to balance out in the longer term. Disablement awards are expressed in mutliples of 10 per cent. Rounding the 100 per cent. pension to 10p ensures that individual awards are whole numbers of pence.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the amount by which the retirement pension has been rounded up or down in each year from November 1979 to April 1991.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe information requested is provided in the table. Figures relate to the single rate of basic retirement pension. Roundings are in pence rounded to one place of decimals.
Uprating Date Amount of Rounding November 1979 down 0.3p November 1980 up 0.6p November 1981 up 0.7p November 1982 down 0.6p November 1983 down 1.5p November 1984 up 1.3p November 1985 down 0.6p July 1986 down 2.1p April 1987 down 1.3p April 1988 down 0.9p April 1989 up 2.2p April 1990 down 1.3p April 1991 down 1.2p
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the average weekly income for(a) single pensioners, (b) pensioner couples and (c) all 696W pensioners, for 1988 and for 1990; and what was the cash and percentage change in income (i) 1979–1988 and (ii) since 1988.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe information requested is not currently available. The most recent data available from the "Family Expenditure Survey" show that in 1987 the average net weekly income for single pensioners was £75.10 and for pensioner couples was £140.70. Single pensioners' net weekly income increased by 30 per cent. in real terms between 1979 and 1987 and for pensioner couples the increase was 31 per cent.