§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people's national insurance contributions record leaves them without entitlement to a full retirement pension; and how many of these are(a) women below retirement age and (b) women above retirement age. [20736]
§ Mr. Heald[pursuant to his reply 19 March, Official Report, column 181]: The information I provided was incomplete. A revised answer follows.
At 31 March 1995, 4,642,330 people over state pension age in Great Britain were in receipt of either a contributory or non-contributory state retirement pension below the standard rate of basic retirement pension. Of these, 4,449,500 were women.
Some people who are over the state pension age and not in receipt of state pension may be deferring their pension in order to earn increments.
Equivalent information is not available for people under state pension age or for people over state pension age who have no entitlement to any state pension.
Source:
10 per cent. sample of Pension Strategy Computer System.Notes:
1. The figures do not include people receiving Incapacity Benefit or Widows Benefit in place of Retirement Pension.2. The figures include 540 men and 1,688,000 women who are not entitled to a full pension on their own national insurance record, but receive a full pension based on their deceased spouses contribution record.