§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many changes of circumstances affecting pensioners must be reported to his Department; 1262W how many cases of each are so reported each year; and what penalties are attached to failure to report without good reason. [35572]
§ Mr. McCartneyThis is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Tim Boswell, dated 13 February 2002:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to respond to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking how many changes of circumstances affecting pensioners must be report to his Department; how many cases of each are so reported each year; and what penalties are attached to failure to report without good reason.The change of circumstances that pensioners should report vary according to the benefit. These are made clear to recipients of each benefit. Examples of changes of circumstances are changes to capital, occupational pensions or hospitalisation. Certain changes may not need to be reported for Retirement Pension but must be reported for Minimum Income Guarantee purposes. Details are not available about how many changes of circumstances are not reported.Information available over the last two years shows that in 1999/2000 there were 6,270,268 changes of circumstances processed affecting pensioners. In 2000/2001 there were 6,527,051 changes of circumstances processed.The penalties considered by the Department are prosecution, administrative penalties or formal caution.