HC Deb 09 June 1998 vol 313 cc554-6W
Mr. Oaten

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many complaints the Benefits Agency has received regarding(a) over payment and(b) underpayment of Winter Fuel Payment since the scheme came into operation. [44901]

Mr. Michael J. Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what sums were paid to residents in Worcester as winter fuel payments in 1997–98. [43677]

Mr. Denham

Winter Fuel payments are one of a number of initiatives the Government have taken to help vulnerable people, especially the elderly, keep warm in the winter. A total of £400 million has been committed for two years (97/98 and 98/99), to help pensioners with fuel bills to pay. This is the first time any Government have provided additional help with heating costs to all pensioners living in the United Kingdom who receive a Retirement Pension or one of a number of other qualifying benefits.

The making of this year's payments has been an enormous and unprecedented exercise. In order to establish all eligible pensioners, correctly identify pensioner households, and determine the amount each should receive, it was necessary to correlate data in around 15 million computer records, involving 15 qualifying benefits, across nine computer systems. Overall, almost ten million pensioners, in over seven million households, have received a payment.

The administration of winter fuel payments is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Gentleman and my hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Mark Oaten, dated 8 June 1998: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many complaints the Benefits Agency (BA) has received regarding over and underpayments of Winter Fuel Payments since the scheme came into operation. The making of Winter Fuel Payments to almost ten million eligible pensioners in over seven million households, before the end of March 1998, has been a challenging task for the BA. This was achieved whilst maintaining normal benefit business. Individual representations from customers are dealt with by each of the BA's 109 Districts. Information is not available relating to complaints about either over or underpayments of Winter Fuel Payments. We are aware of 649 eligible pensioners who received two £50 payments. This includes 211 who erroneously received two payments due to being in receipt of both Income Support and income-based Jobseeker's Allowance for at least one day in the qualifying week. In accordance with legislation, only one payment should have been made. Also, due to a computer operator error, 40,801 invalid girocheques were sent out with an incorrect date of issue. The error was quickly identified and all the invalid payments were replaced within 72 hours. The letter which accompanied the replacement payment apologised for the error and advised the recipient to destroy the invalid girocheque or if they had encashed it, to return the replacement to the nearest Benefits Agency office. It appears that in 438 instances both the invalid and replacement girocheque were cashed. In addition we are aware that 9,357 £50 payments have been made to customers who were not entitled to them. All other payments have been made in accordance with legislation which states that the amount payable will be based on official records and therefore are not regarded as overpayments. I hope that this is helpful.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Michael J. Foster, dated 8 June 1998: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent parliamentary question asking what sums were paid to residents in Worcester as winter fuel payments in 1997/98. The making of winter fuel payments to almost 10 million pensioners, in over seven million households, before the end of March 1998 has been a challenging task for the Benefits Agency (BA). This has been achieved whilst maintaining normal benefit business. Around one and a half million of the poorest pensioners, those receiving Income Support (IS) or income-based Jobseeker's (JSA), received their payment of £50 during January. Other eligible pensioners were entitled to a payment of £20 where they lived alone or were the only eligible pensioner in a household, otherwise, they were entitled to £10 if they were in receipt of a qualifying benefit (including each person in a pensioner couple). Not all of the information requested is available as the BA collates IS and JSA statistics by BA District Office. These Districts do not correspond to constituency boundaries. Such information as is available relates to the number of pensioners in the Worcester BA District who received a £50 IS payment. Following a scan of the computer systems in January, 5,156 £50 payments totalling £257,800 were issued. It is likely that a small number of additional payments will also have been made locally because details for the eligible pensioner were not held on the computer system at the time the scans were completed. The information relating to other pensioners who received payments of £20 or £10 could only be provided at disproportionate cost. I hope that this is helpful.