Financial Assistance Scheme

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 31 October 2005.

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Photo of Danny Alexander Danny Alexander Shadow Spokesperson (Work and Pensions) 2:30, 31 October 2005

What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the level of funding for the financial assistance scheme.

Photo of Stephen Timms Stephen Timms The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions

As with any new policy, we discuss developments with the relevant Government Departments. The Chancellor confirmed last month that the level of funding for the financial assistance scheme would be reviewed in the next spending round.

Photo of Danny Alexander Danny Alexander Shadow Spokesperson (Work and Pensions)

In discussions on the next spending round, will the Minister bear in mind the plight of people such as constituents of mine who have missed the cut-off date for assistance under the scheme, in some cases by only a few days? Some people aged 58 are entitled to assistance while others aged 62 are not. Can funding be made available to deal with some of the anomalies in the system?

Photo of Stephen Timms Stephen Timms The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions

Our approach is to prioritise individuals who need help most urgently, namely those who are closest to their scheme pension age. Such people have been helped by the scheme thus far, but we will know more about the potential costs and liabilities when all the data from schemes have been collected at the end of the current notification period, which ends on 28 February. We are assembling all that data, and they will give us a good basis for looking at the question of whether we can extend the scheme when the review is carried out.