Written question asked by Christopher Chope (Conservative) on Thursday, 1 July 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 July 2004. It was answered by Chris Pond (Labour) on Tuesday, 6 July 2004 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, if he will explain the background to the inability of the Pension Service to issue direct payment letters with the full surnames of people with long names.

Answer: Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will explain the background to the inability of the Pension Service to issue direct payment letters with the full surnames of people with long names. [182588] Mr. Pond: An IT constraint prevents surnames in excess of 13 characters being input on to direct payment letters. Customers with over 13 characters in their surname have their name truncated on all correspondence from the Customer Conversion Centre. A customers conversion to direct payment is unaffected by the use of truncated surnames--it is a correspondence issue only.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 182588; 423 c665W
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Correspondence ICT Personal records Pensions Automated credit transfer Pension Service Payment methods
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk