§ Captain Kerbyasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he is aware of the present discrimination against war-disabled men by which a 80W wife's allowance, made under Royal Warrant, in respect of her husband's war disability, is deducted from a married couple's retirement pension when the war-disabled husband reaches the age of 65 years; and if he will so amend his Regulations as to ensure that all war-disability allowances are, in future, excluded from his National Insurance (Overlapping Benefits) Regulation No. 5.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThere is, of course, no discrimination against the war disabled who continue to receive priority in our social service arrangements. So far as personal benefits are concerned, there is nothing to prevent receipt of both a war-disability pension and any National Insurance benefit to which the disabled man may be entitled. But it is the general rule of our social services that, so far as payments for a dependant are concerned, or allowances for particular purposes, these should not be paid twice over for the same dependant or purpose, but that the higher amount only should be paid. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the Report of the National Insurance Advisory Committee in which these arrangements were examined and approved.