§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will set out the assumptions about the proportion of benefit recipients opting to receive their benefits by automated credit transfer which underlie his estimate of a saving of £400 million on benefit delivery by 2005. [104148]
§ Mr. RookerThe move to automated credit transfer as the normal method of payment from 2003 brings significant savings in DSS administrative costs. This is anticipated to be in the region of £400 million per year once the transition from current paper based methods of payment is complete, and the majority of benefit recipients have moved to ACT. Further savings on fraud are also expected. Estimates of these range from £140 million to £240 million.
One third of benefit recipients already choose to have their benefits paid by automated credit transfer, direct into to their bank accounts, and the vast majority—around 85 per cent.—already have access to a bank account.