“If he will make an estimate of the potential cost to the public purse of disregarding the War Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for the purpose of calculating Pension Credit entitlement.”
Asked by
Josh Babarinde
Answering Minister
the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Answer from Hansard
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Torsten Bell)
I am glad that the hon. Member and I have had the chance to discuss this issue on a number of occasions, and, more importantly, that we had the chance to do so with his constituent Staff Sergeant Pauline Cole, who served our country and campaigned on behalf of other veterans. I know that she has sadly passed away since our meeting, so I wish to put on the record my condolences to her family—not least to her son Les, on whose behalf my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (David Taylor) has been in touch in recent days. As the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) is aware, exactly because of the service of our armed forces, £10 per week of any armed forces compensation scheme award is disregarded when calculating pension credit entitlement.