HC Deb 05 December 1950 vol 482 cc197-8
49. Mr. Marlowe

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what authority repayment of Post-War Credits to married women of 60 years of age is refused unless they opted for a separate assessment from their husbands within three months of the assessment; under what authority his Department has power to relax the rule in cases where the option was impossible of performance; and what is the estimated cost of abrogating the rule so as to permit repayment in all cases to women of 60 years of age regardless of separate assessment.

Mr. Gaitskell

Section 7, Finance Act, 1941, provides that a Post-War Credit is to be credited wholly to the husband, unless either separate assessment has already been claimed or a claim to apportionment is made. The method of claiming apportionment is prescribed by the Post-War Credit (Income Tax) Regulations, 1942 (S.R. & O. 1942, No. 1111) which require claims to be made within three months of the date of the Post-War Credit certificate or such further time as the Commissioners of Inland Revenue may allow. I am afraid that the information asked for in the last part of the Question is not available.

Mr. Marlowe

Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that the decision as to repayment of Post-War Credits at the ages of 65 and 60 was not made until long after the war, and, therefore, those who had to make their option under the 1941 legislation, did not know under what conditions they were called upon to exercise their option; and will he now review the position in order that they may have fair play?

Mr. Gaitskell

It is perfectly true that the decision to pay back Post-War Credits at 60 and 65 was made later, but I do not think that it affects the principle which I have explained in answer to the Question.

Mr. Marlowe

Surely those called upon to exercise their option had no knowledge of what was coming in the years ahead and had no opportunity of exercising their option. Does not the right hon. Gentleman think that this matter ought to be reviewed?

Mr. Gaitskell

If we were to make the concession which the hon. and learned Gentleman suggests, we should be inviting any wife who is less than five years younger than her husband in fact to claim her husband's Post-War Credit.