§ Mr. Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will consider as a matter of urgency making a change in the social security regulations, particularly regulation 3 of the aggregation regulations, so that 507W students continuing in non-advanced education who reach 19 years after the start of the academic year are not regarded as being dependent upon their parents; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonNo. The proposed amendment to regulation 3(5) of the Supplementary Benefit (Aggregation) Regulations 1981 would mean that a family on supplementary benefit with a child who wished to remain at school or college for the academic year in which his 19th birthday fell, would lose the dependency addition for that child as soon as he reached age 19. The family would thus be left without financial support for the child part-way through the year, and he might be compelled to give up his course.