§ Ms KellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what estimate he has made of the additional cost to the Exchequer of providing credits to a stakeholder pension for a parent with a child under the age of five years who stays at home to look after the child; [104873]
(2) what estimate he has made of the additional cost to the Exchequer of providing credits to a stakeholder pension for someone not in employment who looks after a dependent relative. [104874]
§ Mr. RookerWe have no plans to provide credits to stakeholder pension schemes. Under our proposals for State Second Pension qualifying carers will be treated as if they had earnings of £9,500. This will, for the first time, give carers the chance to build up a second pension. A qualifying carer will be:
- someone receiving Child Benefit for a child under six;
- someone entitled to Invalid Care Allowance; or
- someone given Home Responsibilities Protection because they were caring for a disabled person.
Assuming State Second Pension is introduced in 2002, the estimated gross costs of giving carers of disabled people and those receiving Child Benefit for a child aged under six State Second Pension entitlement are shown in the following table.
332W
2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 Carers of disabled 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.7 Carers of child under six 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.7 2.0 Total 0.0 0.1 0.3 1.1 2.7 Notes:
1. Figures, supplied by the Government Actuary's Department, are in £ billion at1999–2000 prices. They make no allowance for income-related benefit offsets.
2. Figures are calculated to the nearest £100 million. Totals may include amounts of less than £100 million not otherwise shown in the table.
3. Real earnings growth of 1.5 per cent. per annum has been assumed.