§ 8. Mr. Gerald BowdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what extra help has been directed to lower-income pensioners in the last two years.
§ Mr. NewtonWe directed an extra £200 million in income-related benefits to elderly and disabled pensioners in October 1989. We will be directing a further £80 million to pensioners aged from 60 to 74 from next month. These increases total more than a quarter of a billion pounds and are in addition to the normal annual upratings.
§ Mr. BowdenI am reassured by my right hon. Friend and pleased to hear that the greatest resources are being targeted to those in the greatest need. Will he confirm that Government policy will continue to provide benefits to those in the greatest need rather than blanket cover for all pensioners?
§ Mr. NewtonI have made it clear on a number of occasions that we stick firmly to our commitment to protect the value of the basic retirement pension. We have faithfully done that and will do so again in just over a month. It is right to recognise, as I have consistently recognised in exchanges with hon. Members, that many pensioners do not have additional savings and occupational incomes. We have deliberately sought to steer additional state help to such groups and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his support.
§ Mr. SkinnerAre not the Government creating another form of low-income pensioners? I refer to those who have an occupational pension of, say, £10 a week as a result of the husband having worked in the pits for 40 or 50 years. If that occupational pension is increased by 50p per annum, for example, housing benefit is lost and poll tax is 8 increased. After two small increases to the state pension and the miners' pit pension, the widows of retired miners will be worse off than hitherto.
§ Mr. NewtonAs with the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) the hon. Gentleman may not understand fully how the benefit system works. Not the least of the advantages of the sort of increases in income support pensioner premium rates to which I referred in my main answer is that they raise the starting point for assistance with housing costs and the community charge. They feed through from pensioners on income support to those who are slightly above that level. Those who are a little above income support level are also assisted by the changes that we are making.