HC Deb 28 January 2002 vol 379 c38W
13. David Wright

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to introduce the pension credit. [28153]

Mr. McCartney

Pension credit will be introduced from October 2003, so that no pensioner will need to live on less than £100 per week (£154 a week for couples). For the first time, we will reward—not penalise—savings, ensuring those who have worked hard to save modest amounts will gain from having done so.

28. Mr. Tynan

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures he will put in place to ensure the application procedures for the pension credit are transparent and easily understandable. [28168]

Mr. McCartney

Pension credit will be delivered, from 2003, by the Pension Service which will be launched in April this year. The aim of the Pension Service is to promote a modern service that is tailored to meet customers' needs. The Department is currently designing and developing the processes and customer products (forms, leaflets, etc) that will support the introduction of pension credit next year.

Plans for pension credit communications are being worked up at present and we intend to engage customer representative groups and partner organisations during the first half of 2002, in helping us to develop detailed marketing, communications and take-on plans. We will also test customer products, such as the claim form and leaflet, with these expert groups to ensure that they are easy to understand. They will of course, be approved by the Social Security Advisory Committee. We will ensure that everyone who is entitled to pension credit knows in good time what they need to do to apply for their pension credit entitlement.