§ Mr. LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of Serps payments by his Department to contracted out pension schemes have been paid late in 1998 to date; and what is the average length of late payment. [56636]
§ Mr. TimmsBy 1 November 1998 we will have paid about 27 per cent. of the age-related rebates we expect to make for the 1997–98 tax year. Many payments are going to be made later than this date and to reflect the delay in these payments an actuarial adjustment will be made.
Payments made at the beginning of November will be increased by 0.5 per cent. Payments will be increased by a further 0.5 per cent for each subsequent month until the expected level of payment is reached.
The average length of delay on the 1 November 1998 is one month for all cases not yet paid.