§ 9. Sir D. Rentonasked the Minister of Social Security whether she will arrange in consultation with the Minister of Labour to have an office open for the whole or part of each weekday at Huntingdon, at St. Ives, at Ramsey, and at St. Neots to deal with applications for National Assistance, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit and any urgent claim which may arise.
§ Miss HerbisonI have reviewed the facilities in this area and have made arrangements at St. Neots for the payment of Supplementary Benefit in cases of
RATES OF PENSION* FROM JUNE, 1945, TO DATE AND AMOUNTS OF INCREASES Date Weekly rate of pension in payment Amount of increase Interval between increases since 1946 Pension at constant June, 1945 value† as a percentage of June, 1945 pension s. d. s. d. Years Months SINGLE PERSON June, 1945 … … 10 0 0 0 — — 100 October, 1946 … … 26 0 16 0 — — 261 October, 1951‡ … … 30 0 4 0 5 — 234 October, 1952 … … 32 6 2 6 1 — 237 April, 1955 … … 40 0 7 6 2 6 274 January, 1958 … … 50 0 10 0 2 9 303 April, 1961 … … 57 6 7 6 3 3 332 May, 1963 … … 67 6 10 0 2 1 362 March, 1965 … … 80 0 12 6 1 10 406 May, 1967§ … … 80 0 0 0 — — 374 Average 2 8 * From 1926 to July, 1948 the pension was a contributory old age pension: the rate was 10s. a week until October, 1946 when it was increased to 26s. for a single person and 42s. for a couple, and became subject to the retirement condition for the first five years after pension age. The National Insurance scheme of retirement pensions operated from July, 1948. † Measured by the Cost of Living Index to June, 1947 and the Index of Retail Prices thereafter. ‡ Applied to all pensioners who had attained 65 (60 for women) on 1st October, 1951. § Latest month for which the Index of Retail Prices has been published.