§ Mr. George Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will now add to the reply he gave on 28th January to his hon. Friend the Member for Islington, South and Finsbury about the adjustment of family income supplement order books to take account of child benefit from 5th April 1977.
§ Mr. OrmeThe draft regulations specifying the prescribed amounts to be used in the calculation of family income supplement (FIS) from 5th April will also propose that the basic prescribed amount should be increased by £2.50, to £41.50 on 19th July 1977, a year since the last increase. This will ensure that no one will lose as a result of an increase in pay 179W in line with the current pay guidelines. This will be an interim uprating for which the bulk of FIS order books can be adjusted at the same time as adjustments are being made to take account of the child benefit disregard, thus minimising administrative costs and inconvenience to beneficiaries. It will also permit a further FIS uprating in November, so that for this year and the future, FIS upratings will be synchronised with the main social security uprating. The adjustments to order books to take account of child benefit and of the interim up-rating will, of course, be made subject to Parliament's approving the proposals.