§ Mr. Luceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much is being paid per annum in unemployment benefit to those unemployed men between the ages of 60 and 65 years.
§ Mr. DeakinsThe cost for the year 1976–77 is estimated to be £90 million.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will give the costs of paying normal or regular unemployment payments to an unemployed husband, wife and four children and the normal pension rate for a man and his wife who retires on his pension at 65 years of age; and what would be the savings to the Exchequer if the man retired at 60 years of age and his employment was taken by the unemployed man.
§ Mr. OrmeAt current benefit rates, the weekly unemployment benefit for an average wage earner with a dependent wife and four dependent children would be £34.30 if he was also entitled to earnings-related supplement and £27.50 if he was not. Supplementary allowance might be payable with or without unemployment benefit but this would depend on 61W the circumstances of the family concerned. After one year title to unemployment benefit would cease. The man with a dependent wife receiving the standard rate of retirement pension would be entitled to a continuing payment of £21.20 a week, with the possibility of a graduated pension on top. The couple might also be entitled to supplementary benefit depending on their circumstances. On the hypothetical assumption that the place of the 60-year-old man was taken by a man with a wife and four children, the resulting saving would depend on the individual circumstances of the families concerned, including differences in tax liability. Any immediate net saving there might be to the Exchequer or the National Insurance Fund would of course turn into a net loss as and when the unemployed man would in any event have resumed work.