HC Deb 12 November 1998 vol 319 cc295-8W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 26 October 1998,Official Report, columns 25-26, concerning pensioner incomes, if he will (a) provide corresponding figures on pensioner incomes based on his Department's Family Resources Survey for each year for which that survey has been undertaken, (b) make a statement on the differences between the results of the FRS analysis and those provided in his answer of 26 October, (c) estimate the number of pensioners in each age, sex and marital status category in each year for which the pensioner income series has been conducted and (d) estimate the 95 per cent. confidence interval for each of his income estimates based on the FES and the FRS in each category in each year. [57223]

Mr. Denham

[holding answer 29 October 1998]: The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is set out in the tables. The estimates are subject to a high degree of statistical variability. It is therefore recommended that, as for all estimates based on Pensioners' Income Series data sets, direct year on year comparisons be avoided.

Pensioner units' median gross income excluding means-tested benefits, by age
£ per week
Age
Year 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80 and over
Single male pensioners
1994–95 n/a 115 106 103 98
1995–96 n/a 116 100 99 92
Singe female pensioners
1994–95 106 91 82 77 77
1995–96 103 93 88 78 79
Pensioner couples
1994–95 n/a 221 189 177 166
1995–96 n/a 220 184 167 161

Notes:

  1. 1. All amounts are in £s per week at July 1995 prices. They are rounded to the nearest £1, although estimates are not necessarily accurate to this level.
  2. 2. Estimates are for pensioner units. A pensioner unit is defined as a single (non-cohabiting) person over State Pension Age (65 years or above for men and 60 year or above for women), or a couple (married or cohabiting) where the man, defined as the head, is over State Pension Age. Estimates for pensioner couples are broken down by the age of the man.
  3. 3. Estimates marked 'n/a' are not applicable. Single men and couples are only defined as Pensioner Units if the man is aged 65 years or above.
  4. 4. Means-tested benefits are defined as Income Support, Family Credit, Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit.
  5. 5. Levels of means-tested benefit may be particularly affected by mis-reporting as receipt of State Retirement Pension and receipt of Income Support are often confused in both the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) and the Family Resources Survey (FRS).
  6. 6. FRS was undertaken 1993–94 but it was not used to create a Pensioners' Incomes Series dataset. Households Below Average Income and Pensioners' Incomes Series datasets were not created from the 1993-94 FRS as DSS analysts had reservations as to the quality of the income data.

Source: The Pensioners' Incomes Series data set, based on the family Resources Survey

Differences occur between the results of the FRS analysis and those provided in my Answer on Monday 26 October 1998, Official Report, columns 25–26 (based on FES) for a number of reasons. Results from the two surveys are based on the responses of two different groups of people sampled from the population. The FRS sample is selected from households in Great Britain, while the FES covers the United Kingdom. Patterns of response among those selected in each sample may differ. Further differences occur in the methods of data collection. A comparative analysis of general results based on the two surveys can be found in Appendix 9 of "Households Below Average Income" (HBAI) 1979–1995–96 and also in HBAI 1979–1996–7.

Numbers of pensioner units' by age and marital status—based on the family resources survey
Age
Year 60–64 65–69 70–74 75–79 80 and over
Single male pensioners
1994–95 n/a 230,000 260,000 190,000 250,000
1995–96 n/a 240,000 230,000 180-000 270-000
Singe female pensioners
1994–95 400,000 550,000 740,000 640,000 1,030,000
1995–96 370,000 510,000 750,000 680,000 1,020,000
Numbers of pensioner units' by age and marital status-based on the family resources survey
Age
Year 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80 and over
Pensioner couples
1994–95 n/a 970,000 870,000 450,000 360,000
1995–96 n/a 970,000 800,000 500,000 360,000

Notes:

  1. 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000 Pensioner Units.
  2. 2. Estimates are for pensioner units. A pensioner unit is defined as a single (non-cohabiting) person over State Pension Age (65 years or above for men and 60 years or above for women), or a couple (married or cohabiting) where the man, defined as the head, is over State Pension Age. Estimates for pensioner couples are broken down by the age of the man.
  3. 3. Estimates marked `n/a' are not applicable. Single men and couples are only defined as Pensioner Units if the man is aged 65 years or above.
  4. 4. Estimates are not controlled to independent population estimates by the age bands used.

Source: The Pensioners' Income Series data set, based on the Family Resources Survey

Numbers of pensioner units' by age and marital status—based on the family resources survey
Age
Year 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80 and over
Single male pensioners
1979 n/a 220,000 220,000 180,000 170,000
1981 n/a 230,000 220,000 200,000 160,000
1987 n/a 240,000 220,000 240,000 180,000
1988 n/a 240,000 240,000 220,000 210,000
1989 n/a 300,000 200,000 220,000 220,000
1990–91 n/a 260,000 210,000 190,000 240,000
1992 n/a 240,000 220,000 200,000 250,000
1993 n/a 270,000 240,000 150,000 260,000
1994–5 n/a 220,000 280,000 160,000 250,000
1995–6 n/a 210,000 260,000 200,000 260,000
Single female pensioners
1979 500,000 710,000 810,000 720,000 750,000
1981 500,000 660,000 760,000 780,000 760,000
1987 500,000 650,000 680,000 760,000 980,000
1988 480,000 670,000 650,000 820,000 950,000
1989 460,000 650,000 680,000 800,000 960,000
1990–91 500,000 610,000 620,000 820,000 970,000
1992 430,000 620,000 700,000 830,000 950,000
1993 410,000 570,000 750,000 750,000 990,000
1994–5 460,000 560,000 720,000 610,000 1,110,000
1995–6 450,000 560,000 670,000 630,000 1,150,000
Pensioner couples
1979 n/a 1,000,000 710,000 370,000 170,000
1981 n/a 1,010,000 730,000 430,000 180,000
1987 n/a 1,100,000 650,000 490,000 270,000
1988 n/a 1,090,000 640,000 550,000 240,000
1989 n/a 1,100,000 660,000 500,000 280,000
1990–91 n/a 1,020,000 750,000 540,000 310,000
1992 n/a 1,050,000 760,000 500,000 330,000
1993 n/a 980,000 850,000 500,000 330,000
1994–5 n/a 960,000 880,000 500,000 340,000
1995–6 n/a 1,050,000 760,000 530,000 350,000

Notes:

  1. 1. Estimates are for pensioner units. A pensioner unit is defined as a single (non-cohabiting) person over State Pension Age (65 years or above for men and 60 years or above for women), or a couple (married or cohabiting) where the man, defined as the head, is over State Pension Age. Estimates for pensioner couples are broken down by the age of the man.
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  2. 2. Estimates marked 'n/a' are not applicable. Single men and couples are only defined as Pensioner Units if the man is aged 65 years or above.
  3. 3. All estimates relate to calendar years, except the combined calendar years 1990–91 and the financial years 1994–95 and 1995–96
  4. 4. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000 Pensioner Units
  5. 5. Estimates are not controlled to independent population estimates by the age bands used.

Source: The Pensioner's Incomes Series data set, based on the Family Expenditure Survey

95 per cent. confidence intervals for these estimates are not currently available. In some cases response variations may be a greater source of uncertainty than sampling error. It is not possible to produce confidence intervals for response variations.

Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of(a) unemployed people, (b) carers, (c) sick or disabled people, (d) employees and (e) other adults, who are not members of either an occupational pension or a personal pension scheme. [57149]

Mr. Denham

[holding answer 29 October 1998]: Information drawn from the 1996–97 Family Resources Survey (FRS) is in the table.

Number of people who are not members of an occupational or personal pension
Number
Unemployed 1,600,000
Carers 500,000
Sick and Disabled 1,500,000
Employees (inc self-employed) 7,200,000
Other Adults 2,200,000

Notes:

  1. 1. All employees earning above the Lower Earnings Limit who are not contracted out into an occupational pension scheme or an appropriate personal pension will be members of the state earnings related pension scheme. For example, 4.6 million of the employees group in the Table are estimated to he accruing SERPS rights at the time of the FRS interview. A large number of those in the other groups will have accrued SERPS rights from previous employment. Those with contracted-in occupational or personal pensions (and therefore not shown in the Table above) will also be accruing SERPS rights. In total, in 1995–96, it is estimated that 7.5 million individuals accrued rights to a SERPS pension (1 per cent. sample of NIRS records) at some point during the year.
  2. 2. International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions of employment (including self-employment), unemployment and sick and disabled have been used, and the analysis excludes those defined by the ILO as retired or students.
  3. 3. Membership is assumed to include those who have retained rights in schemes to which they are on longer actively contributing, and a small number who are drawing occupational or personal pensions.
  4. 4. The estimates are based on sample counts which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which control for region, council tax band, and a number of demographic variables. Estimates are subject to sampling error and variability in non-response.
  5. 5. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000.