Baroness Ludford
Main Page: Baroness Ludford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Ludford's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
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Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
It is a lot, but they include “name” and “date of birth”, so give us a bit of a break here. That said, there are days, I acknowledge, when some of these are beyond me. The great thing is that if you phone the helpline, it is equivalent to doing it online, because the person at the other end is putting the stuff in for you. If you do not want to do computers, you can phone and someone will take you through it. The satisfaction rates are very high. Finally, those who are really struggling can apply with the help of somebody from DWP or from a charity. In extreme cases, someone from DWP will even visit people at home. We will do what it takes to get people to apply for the money to which they are entitled.
Baroness Ludford (LD)
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Palmer did not get an answer to his very legitimate question on when the cost of the claims for pension credit that we hope will be made will cancel out the saving from the winter fuel payment, factoring in the 500 extra staff in particular. It is fair to ask that question and to wonder whether there is a bit of conflict of interest here: if lots more people apply for pension credit, the £1.5 billion saving that has been headlined disappears.
Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
My Lords, when the costings on this policy were done, the Explanatory Memorandum made it clear that the expectation was that it would save £1.3 billion in this financial year and £1.5 billion a year after that. That saving was on the assumption that pension credit would increase by five full percentage points, and it was net of any other DWP benefits that might go with that. Until we exceed that point, the savings are still there. We will not know where this lands until all the claims are in and processed. I simply say, finally, that I want everybody who is eligible for this to claim it. If we end up with more people getting not just the winter fuel payment but the pension credit, that can be worth an awful lot of money. The average pension credit award for a single pensioner is around £72 a week. This is worth having.