Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much extra monies in (a) social security benefits, and (b) public sector pensions, are forecast to be paid in the financial year 2009–10 to take account of the 5 per cent and 6.3 per cent inflationary upratings determined by the prices indices of September 2008.
Answer
My right honourable friend the Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society provided an estimate of the costs of uprating DWP social security benefits at the appropriate rates in 2009-10 on 12 February 2009 (House of Commons, Official Report, col. 1545). The Government do not hold detailed costings for indexation in respect of the full range of public sector pension schemes, but the overall cost of the 5 per cent uprating in 2009-10 has been estimated at around one and a quarter billion pounds.