§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what will be the percentage increase in April in the combined value of children's allowance and child benefit payable to a war widow for the first child and each subsequent child in the family;
438W
Uprating date1 Value of child benefit plus children's allowance £ Average real value at April 1990 prices over the period2 3 £ Real value at April 1990 prices at date of uprating2 £ Value as percentage of average gross weekly earnings4 Percent. November 1979 14.00 26.88 29.07 12.3 November 1980 15.35 26.20 27.64 11.4 November 1981 16.10 25.05 25.89 10.8 November 1982 17.10 25.40 25.88 10.6 November 1983 17.45 24.68 25.19 10.1 (2) whether war widows will benefit from the £1 increase in child benefit in April;
(3) what was the combined value of children's allowance and child benefit for the child of a war widow at current and April 1990 prices and as a percentage of average earnings, in November 1979 and as a percentage of average earnings, in November 1979 and at each subsequent uprating date; and what was the reason for any fall in real value since November 1979; and
(4) what method is used to calculate the annual uprating of war widows' children's allowance, and whether it has changed since 1979.
§ Mr. JackThe present method of operating war widows' children's allowance follows that established by the last Labour Government. This method entails increasing the basic war widows' children's allowance by the increase in the retail prices index, deducting any cash increase in child benefit and adding an amount of £1.86 which was added as a transitional measure in 1977 by way of compensation to war widows for the loss of their tax allowance during the phasing in of child benefit.
War widows will receive the proposed £1 increase in child benefit in April. Like other child dependency increases payable under the Social Security Act 1975, the method of uprating war widows' children's allowance entails deducting any cash increase in child benefit. Thus, from April, these allowances will be increased to £13.65 for the first qualifying child and to £14.65 for others, representing an overall cash increase of £1.25 for each child. The percentage overall increase in April for both the first and each subsequent child will be 6.05 per cent.
Children's allowances are only one element of support for war widows and their families. Since 1979 several important improvements have been made to the overall position of war widows. In 1979 war widows' pensions were made tax free; in 1984 a new tier of age allowance was introduced for those over 80; in 1988 the disregard on war pensions for income-related benefits was increased to £5 and to £10 in 1990. In 1990 pre-1973 war widows were awarded special payments of £40 a week. These, too, were tax free and are also totally disregarded for the purpose of calculating entitlement to income-related benefits. Both war widows' children's allowances and war widows' pensions have consistently been set at preferential rates compared to those applicable to national insurance widows and children.
Since 1983 pensions and social security benefits have been uprated annually in line with the retail price index.
The table shows values of children's allowance and child benefit for the child of a war widow at current and April 1990 prices and as a percentage of average earnings.
439W
Uprating date1 Value of child benefit plus children's allowance £ Average real value at April 1990 prices over the period2 3 £ Real value at April 1990 prices at date of uprating2 £ Value as percentage of average gross weekly earnings4 Per cent. November 1984 17.90 23.90 24.62 9.6 November 1985 18.55 23.96 24.19 9.3 July 1986 18.65 23.54 23.93 8.8 April 1987 18.85 22.96 23.16 8.4 April 1988 19.25 22.13 22.76 7.8 April 1989 19.85 21.16 21.73 7.4 April 1990 20.65 — 20.65 7.0 1 Uprating dates refer to the children's allowance. For all but the first date they are also the uprating dates for child benefit. 2 Using general index of retail prices. 3 Average real values at April 1990 prices are calculated over the period between uprating dates (eg November 1979-October 1980). 4 The source of the earnings is the New Earnings Survey and the estimates used up to November 1982 are those for full-time working adults aged 21 and over whose earnings are unaffected by absence. From November 1983 the source remains the New Earnings Survey but is in respect of all full-time workers on adult rates whose earnings are unaffected by absence.