Christmas Bonus (Specified Sum) Order 2008

I think that the number is somewhere in the briefing and I hope that by the time I finish this response it will appear from the Box. I want to deal with the assumed rate of interest on savings, which can sometimes be taken out of context. As the noble Lord is aware, there is a disregard for the first £6,000 of savings—£10,000 for those in a care home—and the tariff applies only to savings above that level. Therefore, if you had £7,000 of capital, you would have £2 a week deemed income. That is a quite different exchange rate from the 10 per cent that the noble Lord asserted. It is also right to say that quite a high percentage of people in receipt of pension credit do not have savings above the £6,000 threshold. In fact, the majority—around 80 per cent—of pensioners who get pension credit have savings of £6,000 or less. I believe that the tariff that applies for pensioners is also about half the rate assumed for working age benefits. With regard to take-up, 3.3 million are currently claiming pension credit. We believe that between 59 per cent and 67 per cent of pensioners entitled are receiving pension credit, but take-up of the guaranteed credit, which is paid to the poorest pensioners, is between 68 per cent and 78 per cent. The noble Lord will be aware that there is a lot of activity to try to ensure that that rate is increased. When I moved the order, I referred in particular to the opportunity to claim state pension, pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit in one phone call. However, there is no doubt that we need to continue to drive take-up forward, because these are sums to which pensioners are entitled. They are targeted on pensioners and poorer pensioners, and we need to do everything that we can to ensure that the benefit is available to them.