§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he plans to pay industrial injuries benefit direct into the bank of the recipients; and for what reasons this arrangement is not currently available. [27950]
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§ Mr. HagueThe administration of industrial injury disablement benefit is a matter for Mr. Ian Magee, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ian Magee to Mr. Anthony Steen, dated 12 June 1995:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the payment of Industrial Injury Disablement Benefit (IIDB) by Automated Credit Transfer (ACT).Payment into a bank account by ACT is made on computer produced magnetic tapes. For practical reasons, payment by ACT has been restricted to those benefits which are paid by computer. As IIDB is a clerically administered benefit, an exercise is currently underway to transfer all IIDB payments onto a computer system enabling payments to be made by ACT. This facility is expected to be available by the end of this year.I hope you find this reply helpful.