§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for Social Services by what amount family allowances would have to be increased to (1) lift all families free of family income supplement and (2) raise the incomes of all working families with children above the supplementary benefit level, assuming (a) no family allowances for the first child and (b) £3 family allowance for the first child.
§ Mr. O'MalleyTo lift all one-child families off family income supplement would need, under existing provisions, as much as £15 a week and even more in exceptional cases. Further amounts would be needed for larger families. It would, however, be necessary to restructure the Family Income Supplement Scheme well before these levels were reached to avoid duplication of provision.
It is estimated that at December 1973, the latest date for which an estimate can be made, a £3 family allowance for the first child plus a £1.50 allowance for subsequent children would have brought the incomes of almost all working families above supplementary benefit level. Because of sampling errors it is not possible to be more precise. About one-quarter of the families concerned had only one child; a proposal which gave no additional family allowances to these families could not raise their incomes above the supplementary benefit level.