§ Mr. Dubsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the marginal additional value of child support for a second child to a married man paying tax at the standard rate, both family allowance or child benefit and the value of child tax allowances, in August 1954 and currently; and what rate child benefit would need to be at the present time if that marginal additional value had been uprated since 1954 (a) in line with prices, (b) in line with average male manual earnings and (c) in line with all male earnings.
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§ Mr. NewtonThe combined value of family allowance and child tax allowance for the second child of a standard rate taxpayer in April 1954* was 99p. The rate of child benefit current since November 1983 is £6.50.
At November 1983*, the rates of child benefit needed to equal the 1954 value of 99p would have been:
£ (a) if increased in line with prices 8.25 (b) if increased in line with average male manual earnings 14.92 * The information relates to dates when child benefit has been uprated because comparisons at other dates can be misleading and unhelpful. A comparable figure for increases in line with all male earnings cannot be given because information on the earnings of all males prior to 1970 is not available.
A significant point is that in 1954, a person on average earnings with a wife and two children did not pay the standard rate of tax and for such a person, the corresponding figures to 99p, £8.25 and £14.92, would be 56p, £4.67 and £8.44 respectively.