§ Lord Vivianasked Her Majesty's Government:
What immediate steps they intend to take to deal with the backlog of state pensions that have not been paid to new pensioners. [HL945]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)State pensions are being paid to new pensioners within the normal clearance target timescales. However, due to problems relating to the introduction of the NIRS2 computer system, the additional pension component is not being paid immediately in some cases. The Benefits Agency has put in place contingency arrangements to make clearical calculations of the additional pension component to retirement pension where appropriate. Extra staff have been provided for this.