§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the extra costs, using the illustrative figures in the technical annex to Cmnd. 9691, social security White Paper, if (a) the allowance of £30.60 were available to all single people aged 18 years and over and (b) the allowance for a married couple were twice the allowance for single people.
§ Mr. NewtonIt is estimated that the minimum extra cost of paying the £30.60 allowance to all single people aged 18 and over would be of the order of £200 million to £250 million and that of increasing the married couples allowance to £61.20 would be over £1,200 million. Neither estimate takes account of the extra cost arising from the additional claims to benefit that would result from these rates.