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Dept of Social Security;Social Security Benefits Agency

Answer

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the number of men aged 60-64 that made an (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful claim for the (i) 1997-98, (ii) 1998-99 and (iii) 1999- 2000 Winter Fuel Payment. [157053] Mr. Rooker: The administration of benefits is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, Alexis Cleveland. She will write to the hon. Member. Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 9 April 2001: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will estimate the number of men aged 60-64 that made an (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful claim for the 1997/98, 1998/99, 1999/00 winter fuel payment. As of 3 April 2001, 1,046,020 claims for Winter Fuel Payments in respect of retrospective year's 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 had been processed for males. Information relating solely to men aged 60-64 cannot be provided. The decisions made following the ruling by the European Court of Justice meant that the majority of people newly eligible would be men aged 60-64. However, people over state pension age but who had not received a Winter Fuel Payment before because they were not getting a qualifying benefit were also brought into the scheme. Current records show that we have received over 1 million claims in respect of past winters from men of which around 85,000 were unsuccessful, in the first instance. If a customer feels that the decision on their claim is incorrect they can ask for it to be looked at again. We do not hold statistics on successful claims following such reconsiderations. I hope this is helpful.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

157053; 366 c612-3W

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Applications Older people Men Winter fuel payment

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk