§ Mr. ChallenTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of benefits have had306W their payments made to (a) standard bank or building society accounts, (b) bank or building society basic accounts and (c) Post Office card accounts. [142216]
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many(a) child benefit recipients, (b) pensioners and (c) other benefit recipients received payments (i) into bank accounts, (ii) into Post Office Card Accounts and (iii) through post offices using pension and benefit books at the most recent date for which figures are available. [142424]
§ Mr. Pond[holding answer 8 December 2003]: The information in the table shows the current number of live accounts, by benefit group, actively paid by Direct Payment into a bank or building society account, and Post Office card account.
Benefit Accounts paid by Direct Payment (excluding Post Office Card Account) Accounts paid to Post Office Card Account Accounts paid by-order book Working Age Benefits 1,818,507 51,560 2,683,926 Disability and Carer's Benefit 1,476,640 8,133 1,534,277 Retirement Pension 5,474,797 42,561 5,606,745 Child Benefit 4,848,029 52,053 1,938,727 War Pensions 138,790 2,753 99,447 All Benefits 13,756.763 157,060 11,863,122 Notes: 1. This table has been derived from a number of different sources. 2. The Ministry of Defence is now responsible for payment of War Pensions benefit—they provided the figure for Accounts paid to Post Office Card Account up to 22 October 2003. 3. The figures relate to accounts not customers. 4. They only include customers actually receiving an amount in payment. 5. We cannot differentiate between standard bank or building society accounts and basic bank accounts. 6. The table details figures for GB only. Key figures on the progress of conversion to Direct Payment are available in the Library updated every four weeks.