HC Deb 17 March 1981 vol 1 c77W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what the pensioners' Christmas bonus should be in 1981 if it were to maintain its real value since it was introduced.

Mr. Rossi

This information will not be available until the movement of the general index of retail prices up to December 1981 is known. However, in his Budget Statement on 10 March—[Vol. 1000, c. 769]—my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer referred to his estimate that prices will rise by 10 per cent. in the year to next November and on this basis the bonus would need to be increased to about £34 to restore the value it had when it was introduced in December 1972.