asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the level of a pension paid to (a) a single pensioner and (b) a married couple, if the pension was based on the actuarial basis of part contributions.
The national insurance scheme is run on a pay-as-you-go basis whereby contribution rates are reviewed each year and set at such a level that total contribution income, including any Exchequer supplement, is broadly sufficient to meet benefit outgo. The amount of pension benefit that an individual pensioner receives is not therefore related actuarily to the amount that he and his employer have paid since the scheme began in 1948. It would not be possible without undue expense and making a number of assumptions, for example on past earnings and future inflation, to produce an answer to the question.