§ Mr. J. Griffithsasked the Minister of Health whether he will give such information as is available regarding the number of pensioners who have benefited from the Determination of Needs Act, and the extent to which they have benefited?
§ Mr. E. BrownThe provisions of the Determination of Needs Act (except those relating to War Savings) were concerned with applicants who were members of households, and the rules laid down in the Act affect only those pensioners living in households which include persons who are not dependent on the pensioner. During the period 1st May, 1941, when the review of existing cases under the new Regulations began, and 2nd August, 1941, when the review was completed, some 951,750 cases of supplementary pensions were reviewed with the approximate results indicated below:
Number of household cases 495,000 Number of households containing non-dependants 312,000 Number of applicants who derived benefit from the provisions of the Act 216,000 of which last figure some 7,000 were affected also by changes of circumstances.
The extent of the benefit was as follows:
In 57.6 per cent. of the cases the benefit amounted to 2s. 6d. or less.
In 32.7 per cent. of the cases the benefit was between 2s. 7d. and 5s.
In 8.7 per cent. of the cases the benefit was between 5s. 1d. and 10s.
In 1.0 per cent. of the cases the benefit exceeded 10s.
New applications received during the month of May were assessed under both the old and the new Regulations. Some 80,000 applications were so dealt with and it was found that about 50,000 applicants received a supplementary pension 1264W under the new Regulations who would not have been given one under the old Regulations.