§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is their intention that two unmarried people living together and both dependent on social security will both be able to claim a rebate on their community charge demands.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Skelmersdale)The draft Housing Benefit (Community Charge Rebates) (Scotland) Regulations 1988, which will be laid before Parliament shortly, provide that, where a man and a woman who are not married to each other are living together as husband and wife in Scotland, one partner may claim community charge rebate on behalf of both partners, and that any rebate to which the couple may be entitled shall be divided between the two partners in proportion to their initial community charge liability. The intention is that similar arrangements should apply in England and Wales.