§ Lord Taylor of Warwickasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether workers in the call centre handling applications for the new pension credit answer an average of seven calls per day; and, if so, why and how they intend to address the situation. [HL1254]
§ Baroness Hollis of HeighamThe number of calls to the pension credit application line varies, increasing from around 193,900 in December 2003 to around 490,000 in January of this year. The application line is resourced to ensure that we can deal with the forecast number of calls from customers. Application line staff undertake other work in addition to answering calls, including contacting customers to follow up application forms which have not been returned and issuing paper application forms in response to postal requests from customers.