SUPPLEMENTARY BENEFIT (DETERMINATION OF REQUIREMENTS) REGULATIONS 1971 (Hansard, 17 June 1971)

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY (LORD ABERDARE)
My Lords, I beg to move, That the Supplementary Benefit (Determination of Requirements) Regulations 1971, the draft of which was laid before the House on May 17, be approved. These regulations increase the existing rates of requirements laid down in regulations made under the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966. The new rates of requirements will, together with an allowance for rent, make up the guaranteed levels of income for retired people and others not in full-time work, from September 20. As your Lordships will know, the last increase in Supplementary Benefit rates took place in November, 1970. It was more than enough to restore the value of Supplementary Benefits to what it had been a year before, in November. 1969. It is intended that this year's increase should fulfil the same purpose, of maintaining, indeed improving slightly, the standard of living of the most vulnerable members of our community—the elderly, the sick and disabled, widows, fatherless families and others who are unable to support themselves. The proposed increases, which will keep Supplementary Benefits in line with benefits paid under the National Insurance scheme, are large enough not only to protect people who depend on them from the effects of the rise in prices which has taken place in recent months. but also to provide them with at least some margin in hand for the future.
As your Lordships will understand, these regulations set out, not the actual rates of cash benefits but new levels of requirements, and a person's other income, including retirement pension and other National Insurance benefits (but leaving out some items which are disregarded), has to be taken into account when working out how much benefit he requires in order to bring his total income up to the guaranteed level. The main increases proposed in these regulations are 60p in the rate for a single householder, taking the rate up to £.5.80 a week, and 95p in the rate for married couples, giving a new rate of £9.45. 703 There are also proportionate increases in the rates for other adults, young people and children. In addition, some of the new rates include selective improvements which go beyond a proportionate increase and which are designed to concentrate help where it is most needed. The beneficiary who is not a householder receives a fixed addition for rent which is the equivalent of the rent allowance of a householder. This addition is also being increased by these regulations so that the amount will go up from 60p to 65p.
The general overall increase is set at 12 per cent. Taken with last year's increase, this means that Supplementary Benefit rates will have risen by one-fifth from 1969 to 1971. Although future price rises cannot be predicted with any certainty, the Government are confident that this will be more than adequate to make good the erosion in the value of Supplementary Benefits due to rising prices and thus to protect those members of our society who are unable to provide for themselves. The selective improvements, of course, go beyond this general increase. The first of them is an additional increase, which has the support of the Supplementary Benefits Commission, in the rates for children and young people aged from 13 to 20. The amounts that represent. an improvement here—that is, the sums over and above what a strictly proportionate increase would he are 35p for the 13 to 15 age-group, 25p for those aged 16 to 17 and 20p for those aged 18 to 20. This improvement will bring the rates for older children closer to those for adults and provide additional help for parents on Supplementary Benefit who have children in these age-groups.
The other selective improvement is an enhancement in the long-term addition of 50p which is paid to all supplementary pensioners and those under pension age (with the exception of the unemployed) who have received Supplementary Benefit for two years or more. The long-term addition replaces small discretionary additions to benefit for miscellaneous needs, though further discretionary additions can also be made if the long-term addition by itself is inadequate. It is proposed to increase the long-term addition 704 by 25p to 75p when either the pensioner or someone dependent on him is over 80. This will be a small, but real, improvement for those among the oldest supplementary pensioners (mostly widows and single women), whose special needs are not already provided for by discretionary additions to benefit over and above the long-term addition.
My Lords, I mentioned earlier that these regulations lay down levels of requirements, to which a person's other income is brought up (leaving out some items of income which are disregarded). National Insurance benefits are counted in full as income when the rate of benefit is being worked out, and I must therefore tell your Lordships that all the improvements made in those benefits by the National Insurance Bill now before Parliament, must be offset against people's requirements in deciding whether they are entitled to Supplementary Benefit. This principle applies also to the selective improvements in National Insurance benefits—such as those for the long-term sick —which the Government are introducing. We have given much serious thought to the possibility of disregarding part or all of the new National Insurance benefits when working out the entitlement of those recipients who also need Supplementary Benefit, but we have decided that this is not the right course. The National Insurance and Supplementary Benefit schemes are complementary parts of the total State scheme of social security; if National Insurance benefits were to be disregarded, the effect would be to provide twice over for the same contingency. This principle applies fully to the National Insurance benefits for the long-term sick. If it were abandoned, the effect would be to undermine one of the purposes of these new benefits, which is to reduce the extent to which the chronic sick have to rely on Supplementary Benefit.
However, my Lords, I am glad to say that these considerations do not apply to the new attendance allowance of £4.80 per week, which will be paid to the very severely disabled from December. This allowance will be paid to all who have, for a period of six months, satisfied the medical conditions of entitlement and the residence qualification, but there are no contribution conditions to be fulfilled. Because it meets a recognisable 705 and specific need which is common to all beneficiaries, it is right also to introduce into the Supplementary Benefits scheme a new provision for attendance requirements, applicable to those severely disabled people who will qualify for it; and this is achieved by draft Regulation 3.
The cost of the increases, if they are taken on their own, will be just under £116 million pounds in a full year. However, National Insurance benefits are also being increased this year, and this will lead to a saving on Supplementary Benefit expenditure which will more than offset the cost of the Supplementary Benefit increases, so that expenditure on Supplementary Benefit will actually be somewhat reduced. This is because an increase in National Insurance benefits always leads to a reduction in the amount of Supplementary Benefit paid to National Insurance beneficiaries. The increases will help nearly 3 million people and their dependants, including, as well as over 2 million pensioners, many thousands of the sick, widows and the unemployed. As well as protecting the standard of living of all those who must rely on Supplementary Benefits, these regulations seek to give additional help concentrated in the places where it is most needed. I am sure your Lordships will approve the purpose of these draft regulations and will wish to give them a speedy passage. My Lords, I beg to move.

§ BARONESS PHILLIPS
My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord for explaining the Supplementary Benefit Regulations, and, of course, as he will be aware, we on this side of the House will not attempt to do anything other than welcome them. I would merely say, while not wishing at this point to debate the principle underlying the changes which we shall probably have ample opportunity to do during the passage of the new National Insurance Bill—and this is not a Party point—that it always seems to me, each time we discuss these matters (and I felt this when I was in Government), that we make the 706 whole thing so complicated that we must, of necessity, employ far more people to administer the system than would be needed if it could be satisfactorily straightened out. While you are working out disregards and "claw-backs", you must be involved in some very complicated sums. I am happy to see that the attendance allowance is going to be available in December, 1971. But I would remind your Lordships, although perhaps no reminding is necessary, that if you are 80, the sooner you get your benefit the more likely it is that you will enjoy it on this earth, because if you have to wait for a year a great number of changes can take place during that time. I am glad to hear the noble Lord say that this change keeps pace with the increase in prices. It seems that we shall need to review these matters far more often if prices continue to rise at the present rate. However, I give every welcome to the Order now before the House.

§ LORD ROYLE
My Lords, I wonder whether the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, can confirm that the Supplementary Benefit increases will coincide with the National Insurance increases; that is to say, that they will be operative in September of this year?

§ LORD ABERDARE
My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Phillips, for the general welcome for these Regulations. I agree with her that all these matters are very complicated. Perhaps one of the reasons, particularly on the Supplementary Benefits side, is that they seek to take into account individual circumstances. If I may be allowed to pay tribute to the staff of some of these supplementary benefits offices, I would say that immense care and trouble is taken to ensure that special circumstances are taken into account and that discretionary grants are made. I also sympathise with the remarks the noble Baroness made about the elderly; certainly that point is well taken.
The noble Lord, Lord Royle, asked me when the Regulations come into effect. Regulations 1 and 2 come into operation on September 20, and Regulation 3 on December 6.

§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILL
My Lords, I attach a great deal of importance to what the noble Lord said about the 707 constant attendance allowance. We so often find people who know little about new regulations. What method are the Government going to adopt to draw the attention of the people of the country to the fact that this constant attendance allowance has been introduced and is of such considerable value?

§ LORD ABERDARE
My Lords, this is a new allowance and already there has been a considerable publicity drive to draw everybody's attention to it; and the noble Lord, Lord Amulree, is busily at work dealing with claims. But I certainly agree that this is a subject to which we must give continuing publicity.