§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate the Government have made of the likely number of pension-sharing orders that will be made(a) in the financial year 2000–01 and (b) the following financial year. [134645]
§ Mr. RookerPension-sharing will provide a fair option for divorcing couples who wish to share their pension rights. However, it is up to the courts and divorcing couples to decide what use they make of this option.
The number of pension-sharing orders in the current financial year is likely to be negligible. Best estimates for the year 2001–02 are that about 20,000 pension-sharing orders may have been made by the end of that financial year, but this will depend on judicial decisions.
Notes:
- 1. Pension-sharing is available from 1 December. By the end of the financial year 2000–01, it will therefore only have been in place for four months.
- 2. The estimate for the year 2001–02 is based on figures contained in Regulatory Impact Assessment for pension-sharing reproduced as part of the Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act, DSS, 1999.
- 3. The original estimate in the Regulatory Impact Assessment has been updated using the latest estimate for divorces in the UK derived from the ONS Statistics (1998) for England and Wales and from the Annual Report of the Registrar (1998) for Scotland and Northern Ireland.