§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in what circumstances it may be necessary for persons in receipt of income support to pay class 3 national136W insurance contributions in order to protect their future pension rights; and whether he will amend the income support regulations to enable such contributions to he taken into account in assessing their benefit entitlement.
§ Mr. BurtMany people receiving income support have national insurance contributions credited to their account in order to protect their future pension rights, for example, where they are receiving a contributory social security benefit or they are registered as unemployed. Others may have their pension rights protected by home responsibility protection (HRP) which applies to people who are unable to work regularly because they are required to stay at home to look after a child or sick or disabled person.
Where there is no entitlement to credits or HRP and any earnings from part-time employment are below the lower earnings limit at which liability for class 1 contributions commences, people may choose to pay voluntary class 3 contributions to the level required to make a tax year a qualifying one for pension purposes.
There are no plans to change the income support regulations to take such payments into account.