§ Mr. Edwin Wainwrightasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of allowing an additional £1 of a person's superannuation retirement benefit to be disregarded.
§ Mr. PentlandI have been asked to reply. There is no specific disregard of private superannuation payments when assessing entitlement to supplementary pensions, but up to 20s. a week of total income from such sources as private superannuation, charitable payments and any income assumed from capital is disregarded. If this limit were raised to 40s. a week in respect of superannuation only, the extra cost for people now on benefit would be about £2¾ million a year. In addition, some people not now entitled to supplementary benefit would be able to make successful claims, but it is not possible to estimate the extra cost of this.