§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the £10 earnings disregard for war disablement pensioners applying for income-related benefits was last uprated; what the value of the disregard would be on 1 April had it been uprated in line with the Rossi Index; and how many war disablement pensioners are benefiting from the £10 earnings disregard. [149536]
§ Malcolm WicksThere is no specific earnings disregard for people receiving a war pension, although they can benefit from the standard disregards available to anyone claiming undertaking part-time work while claiming an income-related benefit.
However, in recognition of the special nature of war disablement pension, there is a disregard of these payments when assessing entitlement to income-related benefits. This was set at £5 when income support was introduced in April 1988, and would currently stand at £8.15 had it been uprated in line with the Rossi index; it was increased to its current level of £10 in April 1990, and carried over at the same level for the new pension credit when it was introduced in October 2003.
351WIn the case of housing benefit and council tax benefit, most local authorities disregard war pensions in full and all but two disregard more than the statutory £10; from April this year, local authorities will get extra subsidy of up to 75 per cent. for any local discretionary scheme they operate.
The most recent figures show that 8,800 income support recipients benefit from the £10 disregard; the number of people receiving jobseekers allowance (income based) who benefit from this disregard is nil or negligible. Figures are not yet available for pension credit.
Note:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and are based on a 5 per cent. sample so are subject to a degree of sampling variation.
Source:
DWP Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample