§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether any gifts made in cash or in kind by relatives or friends to the families of miners in industrial dispute are to be counted as income for the purposes of calculating supplementary benefit entitlement; and whether under regulations now in draft he proposes any change in the current position.
§ Dr. BoysonWhether or not such gifts would be taken into account as income for supplementary benefit purposes are matters for the independent adjudication authorities. Initially the local adjudication officer, whose decisions are subject to appeal to a social security appeal tribunal. In considering how to treat such gifts in an individual case, the adjudication officer will take account of factors such as their frequency and the purpose for which they are intended. The Chief Supplementary Benefit Officer issued 79W general guidance on these matters in paragraphs 6816–6820 of the S manual, a copy of which is in the Library.
The draft regulations recently referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee include a proposal to define the word "payment" so as to include "payments in kind". This is a technical amendment intended solely to clarify the law following an unreported decision in June 1983 by a social security commissioner. It is not intended to change our current policy and is complementary to the existing provision of regulation 11(6)(c) of the Supplementary Benefit (Resources) Regulations 1981 which defines "income" as including "any income in kind".