We have worked closely with the industry to extend the nature and coverage of MPPI products so that they are suitable for a wider group of people. For the majority of people, assistance via the benefit system with their mortgage is restricted until they have served a 39 week waiting period. Exceptions to this rule are people who took out a mortgage prior to 2 October 1995, and certain vulnerable people, who are subject to a shorter waiting period, and people aged 60 and over whose interest is paid from the outset of the claim. We have no plans to reduce the waiting periods. To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on his plans for the new organisation for pensioners.
Pensioners have a distinct and specific needs.
It is important that we develop a modern, integrated service designed to meet these needs. So we are setting up The Pension Service within the Department which will be solely focused on the needs of today's and tomorrow's pensioners dealing with everything from policy development to frontline service delivery. The Pension Service will provide a new and radically better service for today's pensioners so that they will have a single, easily accessible point of contact for all social security benefits, making full use of opportunities provided by new technology including the internet. It will also provide help for tomorrow's pensioners by working co-operatively with the private pensions industry to design and regulate appropriate pensions products and providing accurate information to help them make decisions about their future pensions. The new centralised operations will provide today's and tomorrow's pensioners with an integrated service.