§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will disregard £4 of any sum payable on the pensions of the pre-1950 Service widows for 526W the purposes of supplementary benefit; and if he will make a statement about the future of disregards.
§ Mrs. ChalkerAt present, the Supplementary Benefits Commission, in assessing a person's entitlement to supplementary benefit, disregards £1 of an occupational pension, including pensions paid to pre-1950 service widows. The Supplementary Benefit (Resources) Regulations provide that, from November, occupational pensions will be taken into account in full.
The disregard of an element of occupational pensions was originally introduced at a time when comparatively few people were covered by such pension schemes and, in view of its exceptional nature, a limited disregard of an occupational pension was allowed. The situation has changed and the number of people covered by occupational pension schemes has increased substantially in recent years. In future, occupational pensions will play a full part alongside the State Pension scheme in providing for income maintenance in retirement.
Payments under the State pension scheme have always been taken into account in full in assessing supplementary benefit, and we have decided that it will be right in future to take full account of occupational pensions, which should also be regarded as part of the main provision for retirement.
The changes in November will also include certain improvements in disregards notably in relation to earnings. However, although I accept that disregards must have a place in the supplementary benefits scheme, successive Governments have taken the view that it is better to concentrate resources on improving the scale rate than on improving the disregards.