HC Deb 22 October 1979 vol 972 cc115-6W
Dr. McDonald

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the net cost of abolishing the household duties test in the married women's noncontributory invalidity pension at 1979–80 rates.

Mr. Prentice

[pursuant to his reply, 27 July 1979, c. 311]: Calculations based on the 1969 survey by the OPCS—handicapped and impaired in Great Britain—show that another 240,000 married women would qualify for NCIP if the household duties test were abolished. At the 1979–80 benefit rates the gross benefit cost would be £175 million. After making allowances for savings on supplementary benefit and dependency increases of other benefits and for increased staff and administration costs, the net cost would be about £168 million.

Use of the 1976 general household survey to estimate the number of women who would qualify for NCIP if the household duties test were abolished suggests a lower figure of 141,000 with a consequent net cost of about £99 million.

It is considered that the OPCS derived figure is likely to be the more accurate of the two estimates.