§ 63. Mr. Hoosonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, in view of the current cost of maintaining a patient in hospital and the pressure for places for infirm patients, she will investigate the possibility of giving grants or other compensatory benefits to people who have their aged or infirm relatives at home.
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§ Mr. O'MalleyExisting provisions already make a contribution to that end and we shall be adding to the range of those provisions. Thus, supplementary benefit is payable to people who are prevented from working because they are needed at home to care for sick or aged relatives, where their own resources are insufficient for their needs and those relatives unable to pay for the service. There also exists the income tax dependent relative allowance which is available to people who maintain relatives who cannot, because of old age or infirmity, look after themselves. For the future, the invalid care allowance will be provided for "breadwinners" who are unable to go out to work because of the need to care for disabled relatives in receipt of attendance allowances; and in the new pension scheme we shall be protecting the pension rights earned at work by those who have to stay at home to care for aged and infirm relatives.