§ Mr. StunellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many outstanding claims for payment of SERPs to newly retired pensioners there were in January and June of each year since 1997; and if he will he make a statement; [141515]
(2) what amounts of arrears of SERPs have been paid to newly retired pensioners in each month since 1997; and how many pensioners have benefited in each case. [141516]
§ Mr. RookerFigures are kept of the number of outstanding Retirement Pension claims of which SERPS is a component of the overall pension. The table provides details of the claims outstanding for the requested months.
131W
Date Claims outstanding January 1997 50,978 June 1997 31,382 January 1998 43,703 June 1998 32,064 January 1999 33,441 June 1999 34,930 January 2000 33,849 June 2000 31,136 The fact that claims are outstanding does not signify that payment of pension is overdue. This is because claims can be made up to four months in advance of the entitlement date.
SERPS is a component of the overall Retirement Pension and details of the arrears of SERPS paid to newly retired pensioners since 1997 are not available. Details of arrears of pension paid were not maintained prior to April 1999 when the Benefits Agency began its recovery from the problems caused by the late delivery of the NIRS2 computer. Since that recovery began, and up to 30 November 2000, arrears of Retirement Pension to 137,000 pensioners totalling£47 million have been paid.