§ Mr. Bob RussellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many people were awarded a penalty payment for the late processing of retirement pension forecasts in each of the last five years for which figures are available; what were the total sums awarded in each year; and if he will make a statement; [112644]
(2) how many people were waiting for a decision on their retirement pension forecast at the last date for which figures are available; how many had been waiting for (a) in excess of three months, (b) six months and (c) a year; and if he will make a statement; [112645]
(3) what plans he has to improve the time taken to issue retirement pension forecasts; and if he will make a statement. [112643]
§ Mr. RookerThis is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Bob Russell, dated 6 March 2000:The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your Parliamentary Questions about Retirement Pension forecasts.There are no provisions for payment of a penalty payment for the late processing of a retirement pension forecast.The Benefits Agency receives approximately 600,000 applications for a pension forecast each year. The current target for issuing the reply to applicant's is 95% within 40 working days of their receipt. Actual achievement has been affected by problems we have experienced with NIRS2, however last month we actually achieved 90.3%.There are no plans to change this target.The table attached shows the number of outstanding pension forecasts as at 1 March.I hope this is helpful.611W
Outstanding pension forecasts as at 1 March 2000 Forecasts Number of forecasts involved Reason for delay Forecasts waiting to be processed 49,965 This amount of available work is the norm for this time of year. 96 per cent, of this work is still within target date 3 months 773 Retirement Pension Forecasting and Advice Unit are waiting for information to be supplied by different areas of Inland Revenue 6 months 15 Retirement Pension Forecasting and Advice Unit are waiting for information to be supplied by different areas of Inland Revenue 1 year 0 —