I propose to take Question Nos. 341 and 342 together.
In general, all contributions paid or credited, at the appropriate rate, on a person's social insurance record are assessed when his/her entitlement to a pension is being examined. There is a range of reduced rate and pro-rata pensions available to cater for people with less than complete insurance records, or where they have insurance from different countries or from different contribution classes.
However, while pre-1953 insurance contributions may be counted towards the basic number of paid contributions required for pension purposes, they may not be used to satisfy the average contributions test. Contributions made prior to 1953 are different in nature to those made under the unified system introduced at that time, and do not contain any provision for pensions.
A special half rate state pension (contributory) was introduced in 2000 to enable people with pre-1953 insurance, who could not qualify for a payment under normal qualifying conditions, to receive a pension. In order to be eligible for the payment, a person requires 260 paid contributions at the appropriate rate, which can comprise a mixture of pre and post 1953 contributions. People already qualifying for pensions at less than half rate can also benefit from the scheme.
The pre-1953 pension is a special measure designed to benefit a particular group of people, with very limited social insurance records, who would not otherwise qualify for a contributory pension. I consider that the pre-1953 pension, as it is currently structured, affords an appropriate recognition for the contributions which those in question have made. There are no plans to give additional recognition to pre-53 contributions or to introduce pro-rata pensions based on such contributions.