§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the changes to(a) cost and (b) coverage of the proposed pension credit if the withdrawal rate of the savings credit were (i) 10 per cent., (ii) 22 per cent. and (iii) 25 per cent. [20296]
§ Mr. McCartney[holding answer 5 December 2001]: The Savings Credit is designed specifically to reward pensioners with low or modest second pensions or savings. Setting the Savings Credit rate at 60 per cent. strikes the right balance between affordability and the objective of helping pensioners at the lower end of the income scale. As illustrated in the table, below increasing the rate of the Savings Credit to 90 per cent. would require an additional £2 billion for a full year. It would also mean the Pension Credit would be payable to single pensioners with incomes over £300 per week (nearly £16,000 per year) and over £430 for pensioner couples (around £22,500).
Additional expenditure required for Pension Credit for a full financial year Sayings credit rate (percentage) Change in costs (£ billion) Changes in number of benefit units entitled (000s) 60 0 0 75 +0.6 +800 78 +0.8 +1,000 90 +2.0 +2,200 Notes:
1. Costs are the additional expenditure required for Housing and Council Tax Benefits and Pension Credit.
2. Numbers of benefit units relates to those entitled to Pension Credit.
3. The estimates are for 2004–05 (the first full year in which Pension Credit will be payable) and are based on estimates published in the pre-Budget report.
4. The estimates are for GB only and exclude persons residing in residential care and nursing homes.
5. The estimates are based on the Department's Policy Simulation Model, using data from the Family Resources Survey (FRS) for 1999–2000.
§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what proportion of single pensioners entitled to the pension credit are expected to be in receipt of less than the full rate of the state basic pension on the inception of the pension credit scheme in October 2003; [47658]
(2) what proportion of pensioner couples entitled to the pension credit are expected to be in receipt of less than the full rate of the state basic pension for a couple based on the husband's contribution record on the inception of the pension credit scheme in October 2003. [47659]
§ Mr. McCartneyInformation is not available in the format requested.
59WIn total around 4.1 million pensioner households will be entitled to Pension Credit in 2003–04, of which around 1.2 million households contain a couple.