§ 16. Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what examination she has made of the number of mentally and physically handicapped people who did not qualify for a £10 Christmas bonus in 1974, evidence of which had been supplied to her by the hon. Member for Cannock; what steps she was taking to ensure that all disabled people received this 1974 Christmas bonus; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mrs. CastleDisabled people who received one of the qualifying benefits for the relevant week were entitled to the Christmas bonus. I will write to my hon. Friend about the individual case he has brought to my attention.
§ Mr. RobertsAlthough all Government supporters believe that the extension of the £10 bonus is a compassionate step, does not my right hon. Friend agree that many thousands of disabled persons, including the one about whom I wrote to her, have been confused, as hon. and right hon. Members undoubtedly have been, by the advertisement? Those disabled people felt that they qualified for the bonus and were bitterly disappointed to find that they did not. Will my right hon. Friend, even at this eleventh hour, extend the bonus to all categories of disabled people?
§ Mrs. CastleIt was always made clear, in our manifesto and during the election and in the Department's advertisements, that the bonus was to be applied to a list of qualifying benefits, including the invalidity pension and the attendance allowance. In the case to which my hon. Friend has drawn my attention the difficulty is that the person concerned is dependent on supplementary benefit. There would be great difficulties in extending the bonus to supplementary beneficiaries. If we were to extend the coverage to long-term supplementary beneficiaries who qualify for the long-term scale rate, our local officers would have to scrutinise nearly a million individual cases, and this would impose an enormous burden in terms of administrative time, extra staff and administrative cost. If the non-contributory invalidity pension for which we are legislating this Session had been in operation by this 230 Christmas the person to whom my hon. Friend has drawn my attention would in all probability have been receiving a qualifying benefit and would, therefore, have been entitled to the bonus. That shows how important it is to give disabled people, who at present depend on supplementary benefit, a benefit as of right. That is the answer.