HC Deb 02 March 1978 vol 945 cc359-60W
Mr. Tebbit

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will update the estimate given in the reply to the hon. Member for Chingford [Official Report, 22nd November, column 708, showing the agregate extra gross pay needed to have maintained the purchasing power of take-home pay of a married worker with two children earning average industrial wages: (a) October 1974, and (b) March 1974, adjusted in each case to present price levels and value of money.

Mr. Robert Sheldon,

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 28th February 1978; Vol. 945, c. 183], gave the following information:

The aggregate extra gross pay to December 1977 needed to have maintained the purchasing power of the take-home pay of a married worker with two children aged under eleven since (a) October

those aged 65 and over, in both cases at 1977–78 income levels.

It is not possible to predict the cost if the age limit for exemption were to be reduced year by year, since this would depend not only on pension increases but also on future allowances, tax rates and income other than pension.