§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of married women in employment who are currently exercising the married women's option to pay reduced national insurance contributions.
§ Dr. BoysonIt is not possible to give an estimate of the number of married women in employment who are currently exercising the married women's option to pay reduced rate contributions because contributions are not posted to contributor's accounts until the tax year after the one in which they are paid.
In the 1981–82 tax year the latest year for which figures are available, 2,319,000* married women paid reduced rate contributions, excluding 49,000† who paid a mixture of standard rate and reduced rate contributions. These figures are provisional.
In the 1980–81 tax year, the provisional figures showed 2,688,000 married women paid reduced rate contributions, and the final figure showed 2,768.000.
* the figure for widowed/divorced women was 148,000.† the figure for widowed/divorced women was 10,000.