Written question asked by Paul Marsden (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 9 July 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 July 2003. It was answered by Malcolm Wicks (Labour) on Monday, 14 July 2003 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Dept for Work and Pensions

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in Shrewsbury and Atcham have been (a) sent details of the new pension credit scheme and (b) informed of the phasing out of pension books.

Answer: Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Shrewsbury and Atcham have been (a) sent details of the new pension credit scheme and (b) informed of the phasing out of pension books. [125628] Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the form requested. The Pension Service began in April 2003 to write to pensioner households to explain pension credit and to invite applications. The order in which households are contacted has been designed to produce a controlled and measured build up of applications, evenly distributed throughout the UK. The households to be contacted before October represent a cross section of the pensioner population, including pensioners of all age groups and likely levels of eligibility for pension credit. By June 2004, all pensioner households will have been contacted. As part of a separate exercise, The Pension Service also began in April to write to pensioners to invite them to convert to direct payment into an account. This exercise will be completed by October 2004.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 125628; 409 c80-1W;409 c80W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Pension credit Publicity State retirement pensions Payment methods Shrewsbury and Atcham
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk