Vol. 537 No. 1
11 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the steps taken by him to alert older members of the public to possible entitlement to a pension based on pre-1953 contributions or a mix of pre- and post-1953 contributions. [11495/01]
Last year I introduced a special old age contributory pension, payable from 5 May 2000, for people with pre-1953 contributions who might otherwise qualify for no pension or only for a reduced pension. Under these arrangements people who commenced insurable employment before 1953 and who had at least five years paid insurance comprising either pre-1953 contributions or a combination of pre- and post-1953 contributions can now qualify. The pension payable amounts to 50% of the maximum weekly personal rate of pension, that is, £53 from April 2001. Increases for adults and child dependants, where applicable, are also payable at 50%.
Since its introduction, a total of some 17,000 applications have been received from people not previously in receipt of a pension from my Department, of which 7,700 have now been decided. Of these, some 5,400 people have been awarded a pre-1953 pension. In addition, a further 8,500 pre-1953 pensions have been awarded to people already in receipt of a pro-rata old age (contributory) or retirement pension at a lower weekly personal rate, bringing the total in receipt of the pre-1953 pension to over 13,000. All of the pensions have been paid retrospective to 5 May 2000.
The pre-1953 pension was advertised in both the national and regional newspapers during the week commencing 25 June 2000. A freephone service was provided in the two weeks following advertising to assist the public with inquiries relating to the new pension. This attracted an estimated 3,500 phone calls. In addition, there was a considerable level of media coverage of the scheme over recent months. Information on the pre-1953 pension is now incorporated in general information on pensions provided by my Department at both national and local level.
