§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT figures, for the longest convenient period of time, giving the basic social welfare payments, the erosion of the purchasing value of these payments for each month, quarter, or annual period, showing to what extent the adjustments to take account of the rise in the cost of living offset in each instance the depreciation in purchasing value of these benefits since their earlier adjustment.
§ Mr. DeanThis Question can best be answered by comparing the real value of flat-rate national insurance benefits at successive upratings since the present scheme began. Although the table relates only to the standard single rate of benefit, it is of general illustrative application, as comparable benefits have kept broadly in step over the years.
Following are the figures:
Date rate introduced (a) Standard rate of benefit for man or woman on own insurances Amount needed to restore previous rate to its original value Actual amount of increase of new rate over previous rate £ s. d. s. d. s. d. July, 1948 1 6 0 — — October, 1951 1 10 0 5 0 4 0 October, 1952 1 12 6 2 1 2 6 April, 1955 2 0 0 2 2 7 6 January, 1958 2 10 0 5 2 10 0 April, 1961 2 17 6 2 5 7 6 May, 1963 3 7 6 4 6 10 0 March, 1965 4 0 0 3 11 12 6 October, 1967 4 10 0 7 2 10 0 November, 1969 5 0 0 10 5 10 0 The rate of £5 introduced in 1969 compares with the figure of £2 17s. 11d. then needed to give the same purchasing power as the original rate of £1 6s. had in July, 1948.