§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of national average earnings has the national assistance or supplementary benefits level for, respectively, a married couple without children, a married couple with two children and a married couple with four children, represented each year since 1948 during October of that year.
§ Mr. DeanThe following table provides the information requested:
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE/SUPPLEMENTARY BENEFIT SCALE RATE AS PERCENTAGE OF AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS† OF MALE MANUAL WORKERS IN OCTOBER Married Couple Year (i) Without children (ii) With two children (aged 4 and 8) (iii) With four children (aged 3, 8, 12 and 14) 1948 … 29.0 41.0 56.2 1949 … 28.0 39.6 54.3 1950 … 28.9 40.9 56.8 1951 … 30.1 42.8 59.0 1952 … 33.1 46.8 64.7 1953 … 31.2 44.1 61.1 1954 … 28.9 40.8 56.5 1955 … 28.3 40.1 55.4 1956 … 28.2 40.1 55.3 1957 … 26.6 38.0 52.3 1958 … 29.6 41.9 57.5 1959 … 31.4 44.3 61.2 1960 … 29.2 41.3 57.1 1961 … 29.3 41.4 57.0 1962 … 30.1 42.4 58.5 1963 … 31.2 43.9 60.6 1964 … 28.9 40.6 56.1 1965 … 32.0 44.7 61.8 1966* … 30.8(32.8) 43.0(45.4) 59.6(62.7) 1967 … 33.0 45.8 63.2 1968 … 32.4 45.2 62.6 1969* … 30.0(31.6) 41.9(43.9) 58.0(61.0) 1970* … 28.0(30.3) 38.9(42.1) 54.0(58.5) * In these years supplementary benefit scale rates were increased in November; the entry in brackets shows the relevant percentage of the increased rate. † Average earnings of full-time manual wage earners in manufacturing and some of the principal non-manufacturing industries, taken from the inquiry conducted by the Department of Employment in October each year.