Benefit Payment Methods (Hansard, 27 March 2003)

§ Mr. David Stewart:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the use of the(a) post office card account, (b) basic bank account and (c) direct payment into personal bank account of pensions and benefits in (i) 2003–04, (ii) 2004–05 and (iii) 2005–06. [104574]

§ Malcolm Wicks
At the start of the main move to direct payment in April 2003, there will be some 13 million benefit recipients paid by order book or giro.
At present 85 per cent. of our customers (including 90 per cent. of pensioners) already have access to a suitable account for direct payment and we expect the majority of our customers will choose to use that account. For this reason our operating assumption is that about three million customers will open a post office card account.

§ Mr. Willetts
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners draw their benefits at(a) post offices and (b) banks or building societies in the Havant constituency. [104578]

§ Malcolm Wicks
Some customers who are paid direct into an account can also collect their benefit in cash at post offices through network banking arrangements at the post office. There is no data available on the number of benefit claims collected in this way. Girocheques can be cashed either over-the-counter at a post office or through a bank account. For the purposes of this answer, girocheques have been treated as an over-the-counter method of payment.
367W
Figures have been compiled from those living in the Havant constituency from the data available on the 25 January 2003, and will include an overlap where some pensioners are receiving some benefits at the post office and some into a bank or building society. The number of pensioners in the Havant constituency are shown in the following table:

Number of pensioners

Total pensioners receiving benefit 20,032

Drawing benefits solely at a post office 8,410

Benefits solely paid direct into a bank or building society 10,832

Pensioners on more than one benefit, paid by combination of post office and direct into a bank or building society 790

§ Mr. Webb
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in the Northavon constituency collect benefits from post offices; and how many have migrated from over-the-counter payments to direct bank transfers in the last 12 weeks. [105297]

§ Malcolm Wicks
From data available at 25 January 2003 the number of pensioners in the Northavon constituency that collect benefits from post offices is approximately 8,300.
The information is not available in the format requested for the second part of the question.
A comparison of the data available at 25 January 2003 with the same records available at 2 November 2002 indicates that just over 50 pensioners have

Number of occupational pension schemes recorded by the Pensions Scheme Registry¹

Closed² Frozen³ Winding up⁴ Wound up⁵

1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999 243 297 154 7,427

1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 286 425 4,521 8,185

1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001 341 555 1,702 6,119

1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 525 558 2,206 4,731

1 April 2002 to 19 March 2003 414 658 1,471 3,599

¹ The Pension Schemes Registry (PSR) is not designed or intended to provide a comprehensive or continuous statistical record of the status of schemes. The PSR registers schemes for tracing purposes and collects the levy from pension schemes, including those in the process of winding up. New scheme data is being reported to the PSR on a continuous basis. Therefore, the figures are subject to continuous revision. When a scheme has changed status, the previous status of the scheme is not recorded on the registry. Schemes have up to 12 months to notify OPRA of any status change so the data for the current year are particularly provisional. The data in the table do not include any schemes that may have changed their benefit type (money purchase, salary related or hybrid) but not their status code (open, closed, frozen, winding up, or wound up).

² A closed scheme is a registerable scheme to which no new members may be admitted, but existing members can continue to make contributions and accrue benefits.

³ A frozen scheme is a registerable scheme under which benefits continue to be payable to existing members, and to which no new members may be admitted, no further contributions can be made by existing members, and no further benefits accrue to existing members (although benefits which have already accrued to them may be increased).

⁴ A winding up scheme is one which has notified OPRA that it has commenced winding up procedures.

⁵ A wound up scheme is one which has notified OPRA that it has completed winding up procedures.

Note:
The data in the table relate to private sector occupational pension schemes. In addition to data on occupational schemes, the registry also collects data on personal pension and public sector schemes. These schemes are not included in the table.
Source:
OPRA.

	Number of pensioners
Total pensioners receiving benefit	20,032
Drawing benefits solely at a post office	8,410
Benefits solely paid direct into a bank or building society	10,832
Pensioners on more than one benefit, paid by combination of post office and direct into a bank or building society	790

Number of occupational pension schemes recorded by the Pensions Scheme Registry¹
	Closed²	Frozen³	Winding up⁴	Wound up⁵
1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999	243	297	154	7,427
1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000	286	425	4,521	8,185
1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001	341	555	1,702	6,119
1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002	525	558	2,206	4,731
1 April 2002 to 19 March 2003	414	658	1,471	3,599
¹ The Pension Schemes Registry (PSR) is not designed or intended to provide a comprehensive or continuous statistical record of the status of schemes. The PSR registers schemes for tracing purposes and collects the levy from pension schemes, including those in the process of winding up. New scheme data is being reported to the PSR on a continuous basis. Therefore, the figures are subject to continuous revision. When a scheme has changed status, the previous status of the scheme is not recorded on the registry. Schemes have up to 12 months to notify OPRA of any status change so the data for the current year are particularly provisional. The data in the table do not include any schemes that may have changed their benefit type (money purchase, salary related or hybrid) but not their status code (open, closed, frozen, winding up, or wound up).
² A closed scheme is a registerable scheme to which no new members may be admitted, but existing members can continue to make contributions and accrue benefits.
³ A frozen scheme is a registerable scheme under which benefits continue to be payable to existing members, and to which no new members may be admitted, no further contributions can be made by existing members, and no further benefits accrue to existing members (although benefits which have already accrued to them may be increased).
⁴ A winding up scheme is one which has notified OPRA that it has commenced winding up procedures.
⁵ A wound up scheme is one which has notified OPRA that it has completed winding up procedures.