Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) net and (b) gross administration charges for the national insurance pension scheme were in each of the last 10 years.

Steve Webb

The Department for Work and Pensions administers the national insurance pension scheme (State Retirement Pension) and fully recovers its administrative costs from the National Insurance Fund operated by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The net cost to the Department of administering the national insurance pension scheme is therefore zero.

At the start of each financial year, costs are calculated on the basis of latest workload forecasts and the most recent audited unit costs. The amount to be recovered is then agreed with HMRC.

Costs recovered from the National Insurance Fund in relation to administration costs for the national insurance pension scheme were as follows:

Year Amount

£ millions

2007-08 504.5

2008-09 391.9

2009-10 390.3

2010-11 348.6

2011-12 221.6

2012-13 252.6

2013-14 246.9

2014-15 209.9

Prior to 2007 the charge was not calculated on a benefit by benefit basis and therefore we do not hold any details of costs recovered from the National Insurance Fund relating specifically to the national insurance pension scheme.