§ Steve WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the online national insurance retirement pension forecast to be available. [173242]
§ Malcolm WicksIt is intended to make the service available in a controlled go-live environment, following six months of intensive testing, in the fourth calendar quarter of 2004, initially to DWP staff. This will allow DWP to study the impact of the registration and enrolment function of the Government Gateway, which is a pre-requisite of using the service. Previous e-services have made this requirement optional. Access to citizens will be made available one month later incorporating the lessons learned.
The service will be called the State Pension Forecast e-Service and will be primarily accessed via the Pensions Service Web site, but will have links from all DWP websites and the Government Gateway site.