§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table showing the value of personal assets above which pensioners may be debarred from receiving supplementary benefits; and how this figure has increased since the schemes' introduction.
§ Mr. OrmeThere is no fixed amount of capital which debars a person from receiving supplementary benefit. With capital of £1,250 or more a notional income is assumed and set against the claimant's supplementary benefit requirements and these may be greater or less than the assumed income. The Supplementary Benefits Commission's annual report for 1975 pages 24 and 25 contains a fuller explanation of the treatment of capital.