§ 29. Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the £10 Christmas bonus for retirement pensioners will be extended to all persons living on social security benefits by reason of sickness or disability and those in receipt of supplementary benefit.
§ 30. Mr. Orbachasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will take steps to see that totally disabled persons and the chronic sick are also given the possibility of receiving £10 as a Christmas gift in the same way as the retirement pensioners.
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§ Mr. DeanAs I explained to the House during the Committee stage of the Pensioners' Payments and National Insurance Bill on 19th October, the dividing line of pension age is the only one which is both equitable and practicable.
§ Mr. Ashtonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will list the categories of people receiving social security benefits who will not receive the £10 Christmas allowance and who will be over pensionable age; and how many of these pensioners he estimates there will be.
§ Mr. DeanThe only social security beneficiaries over pensionable age who will not qualify for special lump sum payment will be those who have neither retired nor reached the age of 70 (men) and 65 (women). It is not possible to make an estimate of their number.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the cost of the £10 Christmas bonus for retirement pensioners.
§ Mr. DeanThe cost of the special payment to retirement pensioners and the other social security beneficiaries over pension age is estimated to be £80 million.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will seek powers to grant a £10 Christmas bonus to those disabled people receiving the attendance allowance, and to those people who have been on supplementary benefit for more than two years.
§ Mr. DeanAttendance allowance recipients over minimum pensionable age and supplementary pensioners are among the categories who will qualify for the special payment. As regards others, the dividing line of pensionable age is, as I explained more fully in reply to another Question by the hon. Member today, the only one which is both equitable and practicable.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost of giving a £10 Christmas bonus to those (a) receiving invalidity pension, (b) receiving invalidity pension and supplementary benefit, (c) receiving invalidity pension, supplementary benefit and the long-term addition, (d) receiving supplementary 446W benefit and the long-term addition, (e) who have been on supplementary benefit for more than two years, (f) receiving either the full or reduced rate attendance allowance and (g) receiving attendance allowance and supplementary benefit.
§ Mr. DeanThe approximate costs, for persons under pension age, would be as follows: (a) £5.8 million, (b) £1.8 million, (c) £0.9 million, (d) £3.6 million, (e) £4.7 million, (f) £0.6 million, (g) £0.2 million.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received on the desirability of extending the categories entitled to the £10 Christmas bonus; and what reply he has given.
§ Mr. DeanWe have received a number of representations, including one from the Disablement Incomes Group, about extending the categories of those entitled to the £10 special payment.
In our replies we have pointed out that the primary intention of the operation is to help the elderly and that the difficulty about going below pension age is that it would be almost impossible to find a defensible stopping point. It would also be difficult to identify, and make proper arrangements for paying, the people concerned, many of whom might be entitled to several of the qualifying benefits. The Government therefore came to the conclusion that pensionable age was the only dividing line which was both equitable and practicable.