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Dept of Social Security;Social Security Benefits Agency

Answer

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of people who have suffered a reduction in the related earnings allowance with the introduction of the retirement allowance in the benefit offices covering (a) Doncaster and (b) Mexborough. [40836] Mr. Burt: This is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member. Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 16 October 1996: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what estimate he has made of the number of people who have suffered a reduction in the reduced earnings allowance with the introduction of the retirement allowance in the benefit offices covering (a) Doncaster and (b) Mexborough. The information is not available in the format requested. This is because statistics are collected by Benefits Agency Districts and not by individual benefit offices. I have provided below the figures for Doncaster District which includes Doncaster Castle House and Doncaster St Peters House and Rother and Dearne District which includes Goldthorpe, Mexborough, Rotherham North, Rotherham South and Wath on Dearne. These figures are provisional and may be subject to amendment. In order to assess these people who might be transferred to Retirement Allowance under amending legislation (Social Security (Industrial Injuries and Diseases) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996) which came into force on 24 March 1996, the Benefits Agency identified all Reduced Earnings Allowance recipients over pensionable age as at 24 March 1996. As a result of assessing all those cases identified in the Doncaster and Rother and Dearne Districts the numbers whose benefit has been reduced are as follows:- (a) Doncaster District: 291 (b) Rother and Dearne District: 349 I hope you find this reply helpful.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

40836; 282 c1011W;282 c1009W

Session

1995-96

Subjects

Recipients Social security benefits Doncaster Mexborough Retirement allowance

Contains statistics

Yes