HC Deb 25 April 1940 vol 360 cc388-9W
Mr. Glenvil Hall

asked the Minister of Health whether, when an old age pensioner in receipt of supplementary pension is ordered into an institution, the children or grandchildren will be held liable for maintenance charges; and whether the supplementary pension will be taken into account when assessing the contributions to be paid by relatives to the local authority?

Mr. Elliot

The Old Age and Widows' Pensions Act, 1940, makes no change in the existing law as to the powers of public assistance authorities to make recovery from the liable relatives of a person in receipt of relief. The question whether, in the circumstances contemplated in the Question, the person relieved in an institution would be entitled to receive a supplementary pension is one which would depend on the particular facts of the case; but if he were in receipt of such a pension, a public assistance authority would be acting properly in having regard to it for the purpose which the hon. Member has in mind.