§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will give the cost of issuing a Department of Social Security additional order book;
(2) in what circumstances additional order books are issued in respect of one payment only; how many have been issued in the last 12 months in respect of payments of 35 pence or less; and what consideration is given to incorporating such payments into the main order book.
§ Mr. BurtThe administration and payments of benefits is the responsibility of Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Ms Joan Walley, dated 10 March 1993.
As Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency it is my responsibility to answer questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security asking what is the cost of issuing a Department of Social Security additional order book; in what circumstances additional order books are issued in respect of one payment only; how many have been issued in the last 12 months in respect of payments of 35 pence or less; and what consideration is given to incorporating such payments into the main order book.Additional order books in respect of one payment only are sometimes necessary in connection with the uprating announcement.Order books normally cover a period of 20 weeks and renewal books are issued some 4 or 5 weeks in advance of the first order. If uprating details are not available when books are prepared, any which span the uprating date will not include the new rates. When the uprating date coincides with the date of the last order in an order book, an additional book covering just one payment is necessary.Normally, the number of additional books issued with one order is negligible but the date of the latest uprating announcement was such that a more significant number of additional Child Benefit books were issued. It is estimated that the number of order books issued in the last 12 months for payments of 35p or less is 110,000.The decision to issue additional order books rather than include arrears in the next main book was based on customer service and economic grounds.Issue of the additional book ensured that the correct rate of benefit was available to all customers on the due date. The child benefit computer system already has in place a facility to issue additional order books in such circumstances and to introduce a facility to include the increase in the next renewal book would have involved substantial computer reprogramming costs.The estimated cost of issuing, centrally, an additional order book is estimated, from the latest available data, to be approximately 2p (two pence), plus the cost of second class postage. There are no figures currently available for the cost of a locally produced additional order book.I hope that you find this reply helpful. A copy of this letter will appear in the Official Report and a copy will also be placed in the Library.