§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department's plans to conduct a customer information campaign on the change to automated credit transfer payment will start; what form it will take; what its budget is; and if he will make a statement. [86054]
§ Malcolm Wicks[holding answer 9 December 2002]: The Department for Work and Pensions will be converting people to Direct Payment over a two-year period, with the first payments going into accounts from April 2003. A customer information campaign will support the conversion.
We have already started to notify customers about the change to Direct Payment. The first invitation letters asking for account details started to go out to some Child Benefit customers at the end of October. We have also made information publicly available on the internet, through news releases to the media, and in articles aimed at advisers.
Next year the information campaign will give even more customers the information they need to help them make the best choice for their circumstances. The main element of the campaign is direct mail and we will write to all customers who are currently paid their benefits and state pensions by paper based methods. This is to let them know how Direct Payment affects them, and what options are available to them. We will support the mailing with an advertising and information campaign using a range of publicity media.
The detail of the campaign is still being developed, but a budget of up to £25 million is available for the campaign, spread over a three-year period (2002–03 to 2004–05).