§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimates he has made of the(a) number and (b) percentage of pensioner households in receipt of housing benefit but not minimum income guarantee who will be entitled to the pension credit; and what efforts he is making to ensure they claim the pension credit. [86885]
§ Mr. McCartneyThe information is not available in the format requested. However it is estimated that around a third (half a million pensioner benefit units) of those who become newly entitled to pension credit when it is introduced in October 2003 will already be eligible for housing benefit.
To ensure maximum take up of pension credit all existing minimum income guarantee (MIG) recipients will be automatically transferred to pension credit. We 503W will contact all pensioners not receiving MIG, giving them information about pension credit and encouraging them to apply, pension credit will also be advertised through the press and television.