§ 93. Sir R. Thompsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in view of the hardship caused to separated wives by reason of delays in receipt of maintenance payments caused by the unemployment of their husbands, he will devise administrative changes to correct this.
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§ Mr. DeanA separated wife who is entitled to supplementary benefit can already be protected from hardship by the arrangements outlined in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster (Mrs. Kellett) on 12th January. A separated husband drawing unemployment benefit jeopardises his title to dependency increases if he does not pay them over promptly, but we are considering possible ways to deal more effectively with a few exceptional cases.—[Vol. 809, c.40–1.]