§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will consider lifting the 31 December bar for those eligible for invalid care allowance following the European Court ruling.
§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what new steps he intends to take to advertise the eligibility for invalid care allowance following the ruling of the European Court.
§ Mr. MajorWe have issued a new edition of leaflet NI 212 which includes full details of the extension of ICA to married women. We have written individually to 400,000 attendance allowance beneficiaries asking them to alert their carers to the extension of ICA. We have advertised the extension in the national press and journals, including women's magazines.
Up to 21 November, we had received some 85,000 claims from married women and new claims arrive at about 2,000 a week. We have no plans for any further publicity.
§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of claims he expects to be lodged for the invalid care allowance following the ruling of the European Court; and if he will estimate the number of those claimants drawing supplementary benefit.
§ Mr. MajorThe number of claims received to 21 November from married and co-habiting women is 85,000. We continue to receive claims at the rate of around 2,000 a week. We expect, therefore, to have received about 97,000 claims by the end of the year. It is not known how many of these claimants are in receipt of supplementary benefit.
§ Mr. Wareingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what factors have led to recent delays in the processing of awarded claims for invalid care allowance to married women; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MajorOnce invalid care allowance is awarded by the adjudicating authorities, payment is usually processed the following week. There are no substantial delays in processing awarded claims.