HC Deb 09 December 1976 vol 922 cc806-9

12.30 a.m.

The Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. James A. Dunn)

I beg to move, That the Supplementary Benefits (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 (S.I., 1976, No. 1781), a copy of which was laid before this House on 4th November 1976 in the last Session of Parliament, be approved. By reason of urgency, the order has been made without a draft having been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament. The order came into effect on 15th November 1976, and if it is to continue to have effect it must now be approved. The purpose of the order is to maintain the principle of parity with Great Britain in the cash social services. It has two main objectives.

The Supplementary Benefit (Amendment) Act 1976 amends the Supplementary Benefit Act 1966 to provide that a single parent receiving supplementary benefit may earn up to £6 a week before that benefit is reduced. Before this change became effective, lone parents, like most other people receiving supplementary benefit were permitted to earn up to £4 a week without any reduction in their benefit. Those who are required to register for work were able to have £2 of earnings disregarded. The first part of the order makes similar provision for Northern Ireland by amending the Supplementary Benefits Etc. Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 to give the more generous earnings disregard

About 100 single parent families receiving supplementary benefit in Northern Ireland have earnings of more than £4 per week and have been helped by the new provisions. The extra cost in a full year is expected to be about £11,000.

Some further additional expenditure will also arise because there are single parents whose income, including part-time earnings, put them above the supplementary benefit level before this increase became effective. These persons may be able to claim up to £2 of benefit on account of the higher disregard. It is hoped that the increase in the disregard will make it worth while for many more single parents to undertake part-time work. This will not cost any more in benefit payments.

I now come to the second part of the order, which provides for the discontinuance of certain small disregards attached to the children's portion of widows' pensions and allowances. Similar provision for Great Britain is made in the Supplementary Benefit (Amendment) Act 1976. The pensions and allowances involved are national insurance widowed mother's allowance, industrial death benefit and war widows' and similar pensions. These disregards were introduced in 1964 in the national assistance era when an increase was made in the children's allowances attached to widows' pensions at a time when no other benefit changes were taking place.

Although the disregards have continued since then, they have never been increased but on decimalisation became 38p and 28p. It is considered that, in conjunction with the increases provided by the first part of the order, this is an opportune time to discontinue these disregards for new claimants. The order provides, however, that they remain for those who have what are referred to as "preserved 1976 rights"—that is to say, claimants who now have the benefit of the disregards will continue to benefit from them for as long as they continue to receive supplementary benefit in conjunction with the war widow's benefit or other benefit involved. If, as sometimes happens, the widow enters hospital and payment of supplementary benefit ceases, that gap in entitlement, no matter what its duration, will not affect her preserved rights. Other gaps in entitlement due, for example, to spells of employment will not affect her preserved rights if they are no longer than three months.

The discontinuance of the disregards will eventually result in a saving of about £24,000, but this will not be achieved immediately since the existence of preserved rights will mean that it could take many years for the disregards to work fully out of the system.

I trust that this brief explanation has given the House an adequate outline of the substance of the order. As I mentioned at the outset, it maintains the principle of parity between cash social services in Northern Ireland and those in Great Britain. I commend the order to the House.

12.35 a.m.

Mr. Robert J. Bradford (Belfast, South)

We welcome this order, which brings Northern Ireland legislation into line with existing United Kingdom legislation, thereby affording to one-parent families in Northern Ireland the benefit of an increase in the amount of earnings to be disregarded in calculating entitlement to supplementary benefit.

We welcome the order because it implements yet another of the excellent recommendations in the report on the plight of one-parent families, known as the Finer Report, which recommended that there should be an increase in the disregard figure. We are delighted that since the report was published there have now been two increases. The order assists this needy section of the community in Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved, That the Supplementary Benefits (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 (S.I., 1976, No. 1781), a copy of which was laid before this House on 4th November 1976 in that last Session of Parliament, be approved.