§ Mr. Peter Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list, in 1955 and 1980 values and as index numbers using 1955 as 100, the 1955 and the present values of the married couples' pension, the single person's tax allowance, the married man's tax allowance and the value of the child benefits for two
COMPARATIVE LEVELS OF SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS AND VALUES OF TAX ALLOWANCE TO BASIC RATE TAXPAYERS (a) (b) (c) (d) Actual value at October 1955 Column (a) expressed at February 1980 prices* Actual value at February 1980 Column (c) as index column (b)=100 £ £ £ Married couple retirement pension (per week) 3.25 18.44 37.30 202.3 Single person tax allowance (per annum) 140.00 794.34 1,165.00 146.7 Married couple tax allowance (per annum) 240.00 1,361.73 1,815.00 133.3 Family allowance/child benefit plus child tax allowance (where appropriate) for a married couple plus two children aged under 11: (a) In work (per week) 1.90 10.78 8.00 74.2 (b) Sick† (per week) 2.65 15.04 11.40 75.8 * Based on the movement in the General Index of Retail Prices. † Includes dependency allowance for children.