Supplementary Benefits (Strikers and Prisoners)

HC Deb 23 February 1971 vol 812 cc85-6W

52. Mr. McNamara

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what distinction his Department make in differentiating between the grant of supplmentary benefit to the family of a man on strike and to the family of a man in prison

70. Mr. Ashton

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether there is any difference in entitlement to social security benefits between the family of a man on strike and the family of a man in prison.

Mr. Dean

The amounts paid reflect the difference in household circumstances. The requirements of a striker's wife are based on the scale rate for a person living in someone else's household (£4.15), whereas the requirements of a prisoner's wife, who has become responsible for all the household outgoings in the absence of her husband, are based on the householder scale rate (£5.20). Requirements for children and rent are treated similarly in both cases, but there is some difference in the treatment of any resources available to the husband.