§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people chose to have child benefit and pensions paid by automatic transfer into bank accounts in each year since 1992. [120803]
§ Mr. RookerThe information is in the table.
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Number of customers in receipt of child benefit and pensions1 choosing payment into a bank account since 1992. Year2 Number of child benefit customers choosing ACT Number of retirement pension and widows pension customers choosing ACT3 1992 1,505,425 2,392,292 1993 1,594,600 3,043,118 1994 1,741,875 3,315,930 1995 1,880,650 3,543,713 1996 2,063,150 3,854,419 1997 2,241,275 4,014,874
Number of customers in receipt of child benefit and pensions1 choosing payment into a bank account since 1992. Year2 Number of child benefit customers choosing ACT Number of retirement pension and widows pension customers choosing ACT3 1998 2,436,900 4,272,662 1999 2,620,075 4,554,997 1 "Pensions" has been interpreted as referring to retirement (RP) and widows (WP) pension, for which details are only available as a combined number. 2 Date as at November of each year. 3 These figures exclude pensioners who are entitled to Income Support and receive a combined payment, and include customers resident overseas.
§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list, for each of the main social security benefits, how many people in each of the last 12 months have contacted his Department and its agencies requesting that their benefit payment be switched to a post office from payment into a bank account. [120987]
§ Mr. RookerThe Department does not routinely collate the information requested.
However, as the overall trend on all benefits is an increase in payment into a bank account, it is unlikely that a significant number of customers are changing from payment into a bank account to payment at the post office.