The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Tag: Pensions

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions – 20 March 1987

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions on 20th March 1987.

    Mr. Meacher Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to increase pensions in the light of the £6 million windfall in Government revenue.

    Mr. Major My right hon. Friend announced on 22 October 1986 that pensions would be increased by 2.1 per cent. from 6 April 1987, in line with the rise in prices over the appropriate period.

    Mrs. Beckett Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what will have been the fall in the real value of the basic retirement pension rate to be paid from 6 April as a result of pensions and other long-term benefits, including the long-term rate of supplementary benefit, not having been increased in line with the percentage rise in average earnings since November 1978; and what would be the cost in 1987-88 of using the rise in average earnings as the yardstick for pension increases rather than the retail price index.

    Mr. Major If the basic retirement pension and linked long-term benefits had been increased in line with the movement in average earnings (whole economy, seasonally adjusted) between November 1978 and September 1986, the end of the calculation period for the uprating taking place in April 1987, the pension at April would be £43.70 for a single person and £69.90 for a married couple. It is not possible to calculate changes in the real value at April until April retail price index figures are available. Prior to 1980, the long-term rate of supplementary benefit was not increased in relation to earnings, but by the same cash amount as the increase in retirement pension.

    If pensions and linked long-term benefits were increased to these amounts in April 1987, and if supplementary pensions and the long-term rate of supplementary allowance for recipients of long-term contributory benefits were increased by the same cash amount, the additional cost in 1987-88 would be about £2 billion above that already provided for. No change in the level of housing benefit needs allowances has been assumed.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Personal Pensions – 6 March 1987

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Personal Pensions on 6th March 1987.

    Mr. McCrindle Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) when he expects to be able to publish details of the charges that institutions can make when providing personal pensions; and if he will make a statement:
    (2) when he expects to be able to publish details of the information which must be provided to employees interested in taking a personal pension; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major We shall make an announcement as soon as possible.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on State Pensions – 23 February 1987

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on State Pensions on 23rd February 1987.

    Mr. Adley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the future funding of state pensions.

    Mr. Major State retirement pensions will continue to be funded principally through national insurance contributions by employers and employees. We took steps in the Social Security Act 1986 to modify the future costs of the state earnings-related pension in order to ensure that it would be possible to fund increasing pensions for growing numbers of pensioners.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions and Benefits – 11 February 1987

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions and Benefits on 11th February 1987.

    Mr. Ashdown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will estimate the total amount of pensions and social security benefits unclaimed in the last year by persons entitled to such payments; if he has any information on the part played by inadequate skills of literacy and numeracy in such cases; what steps he has taken to overcome relevant difficulties that may be experienced by potential claimants; and if he will make a statement;
    (2) what information is available to his Department on the number of persons entitled to pension or social security benefit whose skills of literacy and numeracy are inadequate; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr. Major The Department’s general policy is to allow the public to decide, on the basis of clearly stated advice, whether to claim benefits to which they may be entitled. A document design unit ensures that forms distributed nationally are expressed in a language which people with only limited literacy should understand – a fact recognised by the receipt of a number of Plain English awards. Contacts are maintained with 300 interested organizations – including adult literacy groups – which often provide valuable suggestions on document design.

    On a personal level, local office staff are trained to provide a sympathetic information service. This can be at the office, over the telephone or in the person’s own home. More general benefit advice and information is available through the Department’s freephone, supplemented by regular local media broadcasts.

    The Department spends about £6.5 million on media advice, publicity and leaflets. For child benefit and the major contributory benefits, such as retirement pension, it is thought that virtually everyone who is eligible receives the benefit and take-up of one parent benefit is also high amongst those that stand to gain.

    Respondents to the “Family Expenditure Survey”, from which estimates of unclaimed income-related benefits are obtained, are not asked questions relating to their literacy or numeracy, but there is some evidence to suggest that entitlements are less likely to be claimed when the amount is small. Take-up of supplementary benefit expenditure was 89 per cent. in 1983 implying £615 million was unclaimed. About £35 million in family income supplement went unclaimed in 1981.

    First estimates of housing benefit expenditure take-up and more recent estimates for family income supplement should be available shortly.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions – 21 January 1987

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions on 21st January 1987.

    Mr. Meacher Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what, for a man retiring on average earnings each year since 1978 and who had been contracted into state earnings related pension scheme, was the earnings-related component on top of the flat-rate state pension payable in each of those years.

    Mr. Major I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 12 January 1987, at columns 123-124.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Retirement Pensioners – 20 January 1987

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Retirement Pensioners on 20th January 1987.

    Sir David Price Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many retirement pensioners were of the age of 80 years and above at the latest date for which figures are available.

    Mr. Major About 1.8 million at March 1986.

    Sir David Price Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the current rate of supplement to the basic rate of retirement pension for those aged 80 years and above if that supplement had been indexed to the cost of living since its introduction in 1971.

    Mr. Major If the age addition of 25 pence had been increased in line with the increase in the retail price index since its introduction in September 1971, it would have risen to £1.15 in July 1986.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Occupational Pensions – 19 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Occupational Pensions on 19th December 1986.

    Mr. Ashby Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when the revaluation provisions relating to the deferred pensions of early leavers from occupational pension schemes will take effect.

    Mr. Major The revaluation provisions contained in the Social Security Act, 1985 apply to early leavers after 1 January 1986 with at least a year to go before the normal scheme pension age.

    An order laid on 9 December (S.I. 1986, No. 2070) specified that for pensions which are subject to revaluation and which come into payment in the year beginning I January 1987, the revaluation percentage shall be 3 per cent. This is in line with the rise in prices in Great Britain in the year ended 30 September 1986.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Occupational Pensions – 18 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Occupational Pensions on 18th December 1986.

    Mr. Steel Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what account was taken of the Occupational Pensions Board report, Cmnd. 8649, in the formulation of the Bill which led to the Social Security Act 1986.

    Mr. Major Pension reforms in the Social Security Act 1986 implement proposals in the White Paper “Reform of Social Security”, Cmnd. 9691. Recommendations in the Occupational Pensions Board’s report “Greater Security for the Rights and Expectations of Members of Occupational Pension Schemes”, Cmnd. 8649, were reflected in the new rights to information for members of occupational pension schemes in the Social Security Act 1985.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions – 5 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Pensions on 5th December 1986.

    Mr. Wigley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce a system to enable pensioners who reach their 65th birthday several days before their first pension pay day to be able to receive a once-off Giro from his Department’s local office to pay to them the pension appropriate to that number of days for which they currently lose their pension.

    Mr. Major Retirement pension is paid to people who have both attained a minimum age and retired from regular work. People approaching pension age are already advised in leaflet NP32, sent automatically before age 60-65 to all those for whom the Department holds a contribution record, that any gap between the date of retirement and the first pension pay day can be avoided by making the pay day the retirement date where this is possible for them. The pension is in law a weekly benefit, and at present no powers exist either to pay retirement pension for odd days between the date of retirement and the pension pay day, or, indeed, to recover it for days after a pensioner’s death included in a weekly payment already cashed.

  • Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Service Pensions – 1 December 1986

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Service Pensions on 1st December 1986.

    Mr. Ashley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many service veterans of the nuclear tests have applied for a service invalidity pension; how many applications have been accepted; and what percentage this represents of the total applications.

    Mr. Major Since mid-1983 it is known that about 110 claims to war disablement pension have been made on the grounds that disablement was caused by exposure to radiation from atomic bomb tests. None has been accepted on those grounds. In one case only however, a pension was awarded on appeal by the independent pensions appeal tribunal on the grounds of reasonable doubt.