§ Mr. HeathTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what distinction is made when sending winter fuel payments between houses with numbered addresses and those with house names but no numbers; [85140]
(2) in what way his Department distinguish between single pensioner households and those with more than one pensioner when distributing winter fuel payments; [85141]
(3) how many appeals by pensioners living alone were received against incorrect awards of winter fuel payments in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001. [85142]
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ensure all eligible people in a household receive the correct level of winter fuel payment, personal information from the benefit computer systems is matched to ascertain how many eligible people live at each address. No distinction is made between houses with numbered addresses and those with house names but no number when determining entitlement to winter fuel payments.
505WAddresses are converted to a standard format and then matched against the Royal Mail Postal Address file, including the unique alpha/numeric value for each address known as the Delivery Point Suffix.
During the data matching, various computer scans are run. Where more than one person's details are linked by the Delivery Point Suffix, each will be allocated £100; where the details are not linked to another, the person is awarded £200. A number of further scans are run to correct errors and mismatching.
506WThe Delivery Point Suffix is identified in 98 per cent. of cases, but in cross-referencing over 12 million records, there will unfortunately be some errors. Anyone who receives £100 when they believe that they are entitled to £200 is asked to contact the address on the notification letter.
This is then investigated and where further enquiries reveal that a £200 payment was due, a top up payment is issued. For Winter 2000–01 45,332 top up payments were made, and for winter 2001–02, there were 38,853 top up payments issued.