State Second Pension (Hansard, 17 January 2000)

§ Mr. Webb
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if it is his policy that, following the introduction of the State Second Pension, all employees below state pension age who have not contracted out of the state scheme will earn entitlements under the rules for the State Second Pension rather than SERPS; and if this is the assumption which underlies his estimates of the distributional impact of the reform. [104687]

§ Mr. Rooker
Following the introduction of State Second Pension, all employees below State Pension age, who have paid Class 1 National Insurance Contributions on earnings at or above the Lower Earnings Limit and who have not contracted out of the State scheme, will accrue entitlement to a second pension under the rules for the State Second Pension. Any SERPS entitlement they have already accrued will be preserved. So when a person reaches State Pension age they will receive, in addition to their basic Retirement Pension, a second pension made up of any preserved SERPS plus entitlement under State Second Pension.
State Second Pension will reform SERPS so that those with low earnings will get much more additional pension. All those earning between £3,432 (the annual Lower Earnings Limit) and £9,500 will accrue at least twice as much entitlement under State Second Pension than they would have done under SERPS. The highest proportionate gains will go to those on the lowest earnings.

§ Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the cost of backdating the State Second Pension to(a) 1978, (b) 1981, (c) 1986, (d) 1992 and (e) 1998 for carers in receipt of Invalid Care Allowance. [105251]

§ Mr. Rooker
The information is not available.

§ Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the costs which would result if the state second pension were backdated to(a) 1978, (b) 1981, (c) 1986, (d) 1992 and (e) 1998 for carers of ill, elderly or disabled relatives in receipt of Home Responsibilities Protection. [105252]

§ Mr. Rooker
The information is not available.
Home Responsibilities Protection can currently be claimed at any time up to State Pension age for qualifying periods since 1978. Since only very small numbers have so far claimed Home Responsibilities Protection for caring for a sick or disabled person, any estimate based on our usual 1 per cent. sampling method would not be reliable.