Contingencies Fund Advance (Single Tier Pension)

Tuesday 7th January 2014 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

The Department for Work and Pensions has obtained approval for an advance from the Contingencies Fund of £984,000 for the development of IT for the single tier pension before Royal Assent. This advance is necessitated by the lead in time for delivery in April 2016 which requires IT development work to begin prior to Royal Assent of the Pensions Bill.

Parliamentary approval for additional resource of £984,000 for this new service will be sought in the main estimates for the Department for Work and Pensions for 2014-15. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £984,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund. The repayment is expected to be made in the financial year 2014-15.

This advance will allow the single tier programme to continue to work to meet the revised timetable of April 2016 to implement the single tier new service.