Written question asked by Lord Touhig (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 June 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 June 2008. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 June 2008 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Pension Credit

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate his Department has made of the amount of pension credit unclaimed in (a) Islwyn constituency, (b) England and (c) Wales in each year since its introduction;

Original answer: Estimates of eligibility, take-up and the amount of benefit unclaimed are not available below the level of Great Britain. It is not therefore possible to say how many people are eligible to pension credit or how much pension credit is unclaimed in Islwyn constituency, England or Wales.Latest estimates of take-up rates, the number of pensioners who were entitled but not claiming pension credit and the amount of pension credit unclaimed in Great Britain were published in the ““Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2006/07”” report. A copy of this report is available in the Library.As at February 2008 there were 3,910 pensioner households—4,860 individuals—receiving pension credit in Islwyn constituency."Notes:""1. The figures provided are early estimates. The preferred data source for figures supplied by DWP is the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS). However, the figure provided is the latest available figure, which is taken from the GMS scan at 28 February 2008. These are adjusted using the historical relationship between WPLS and GMS data to give an estimate of the final WPLS figure.""2. Case loads are rounded to the nearest 10.""3. Households are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household.""4. Individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners."

It has since been corrected.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 478 c188W (479 13-4MC); 212800
Session: 2007-08
Related items: Pension Credit
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Written corrections
House of Commons
Notes: Corrected on 17 September 2008 at 479 c13-4MC.
Subjects: Pension credit
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk