HC Deb 18 December 1984 vol 70 cc146-50W
Mr Butterfill

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many men born before 5 July 1883, and how many women born before 5th July 1888, are ineligible for the full death grant;

(2) what was the total number of deaths in Great Britain in each of the last 10 years; and whether he will estimate for each of those years the number of cases where no payment or payment at a reduced rate of the death grant was made;

(3) whether he will publish in the Official Report the present rates of the death grant for an adult, on full benefit, for a child aged under three years, for a child between three to five years and for a child aged between six and 17 years;

(4) what rate of grant is payable for the death of people who were within 10 years of pension age in July 1948 and born between 5 July 1883 and 4 July 1893 in the case of a man and between 5 July 1888 and 4 July 1898 in the case of a woman.

Mr. Whitney

The present rates of the national insurance death grant are as follows:

£
Child under 3 9.00
Child 3–5 15.00
Child 6–17 22.50
Adult 17 and over 30.00
Man born 5 July 1883–4 July 1893 or woman born 5 July 1888–4 July 1898 15.00
Stillborn child or man born before 5 July 1893 or woman born before 5 July 1888 No grant

Information on deaths in the past 10 years is as follows:

In June 1983 in England and Wales there were an estimated 1,500 men born before 5 July 1883 and 28,500 women born before 5 July 1888. (Figures for Scotland are not available in this form).

Mr. Butterfill

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) on how many occasions, in what years and by what amount the death grant has been increased since it was first introduced;

(2) by what amount the purchasing power of the death grant has decreased since 1967;

(3) by what amount the existing death grant would need to be increased to restore it to the 1967 value of the grant;

(4) by what amount the existing death grant would need to be increased to restore it to its 1949 value.

Mr. Whitney

The standard rate of the death grant was introduced at £20 in 1949. It was increased to £25 in 1958 and to the present rate of £30 in 1967.

The grant would need to be raised to £175 to restore its 1967 value or £225 to restore the 1949 value. The purchasing power of the grant has declined by 82.per cent. since 1967.

Mr. Butterfill

asked the Secretary of State for Social Service (1) whether he will publish in the Official Report the names of the organisations which made representations to his Department in response to the consultative document "The Death Grant", of March 1982;

(2) whether he will publish in full in the Official Report the foreword by the Minister for Social Security to the consultative document "The Death Grant".

Mr. Whitney

A copy of "The Death Grant, A Consultative Document" containing the foreword published in March 1982 is available in the Library. The names of the organisations who made representations to the Department in response to the consultative document on the death grant are as follows. Where a national organisation or trades union is listed, local or regional branches may also have made submissions. Representations were also received from a number of health authorities, local authorities, councils of social service, councils of voluntary service, welfare committees, war pensions committees, funeral directors, community health councils, constituency parties, academics and private individuals:

  • National Association of Health Authorities in England and Wales.
  • Age Concern.
  • Dounreay Retirement Fellowship.
  • Tyne, Wear, Durham and District Pensioners'Association.
  • The Officers' Association.
  • National Association of Fire Brigade Pensioners.
  • Bristol Good Companion Service.
  • Transport and General Workers Union.
  • British Pensioners' and Trade Union Action Association.
  • The Leukaemia Society.
  • Pensioners' Voice.
  • Association of Metropolitan Authorities.
  • Rosewell Old Age Pensioners' Association.
  • Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen's Families Association.
  • Royal Naval Association.
  • Trades Union Congress.
  • Association of District Committees for the Health and Personal Social Services, Northern Ireland.
  • Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers.
  • National Deaf Children's Society.
  • Association of District Councils.
  • Dundee Association for Social Service.
  • Multiple Sclerosis Society, Association of Scottish Branches.
  • Catholic Women's League.
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  • Scottish Old Age Pensioners' Association.
  • Northern Ireland Consumer Council.
  • Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.
  • Royal British Legion.
  • Scottish Society for the Mentally Handicapped.
  • Cruse.
  • Health Visitors' Association.
  • War Veterans Association.
  • National Union of Teachers.
  • The Mothers' Union.
  • Women's Institute.
  • Association of Scottish Local Health Councils.
  • Citizen's Advice Bureau.
  • War Widows Association of Great Britain.
  • Confederation of Health Service Employees.
  • National Association of Funeral Directors.
  • Society of Graphical and Allied Trades.
  • Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • The Labour Party, National Labour Women's Committee.
  • Civil Service Pensioners' Alliance.
  • Help the Aged.
  • Association of Local Authorities of Northern Ireland.
  • Public Service Pensioners' Council.
  • Dundee Trades Council.
  • Leicester and District Traders Council.
  • Westminster Active Pensioners.
  • Flint and District Unions Trades Council (Clwyd).
  • Oxford Consumers Group.
  • National Federation of Post Office and British Telecom Pensioners.
  • West Midlands Pensioners' Convention.
  • Methodist Local Preachers Mutual Aid Association.
  • Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers.
  • Exeter Municipal Charities.
  • Plaid Cymru.
  • Institute of Home Help Organisers.
  • Paisley and District Trades Council Senior Citizens.
  • Family Service Unit.
  • War Widows Association of Great Britain.
  • Board for Social Responsibility.
  • South Tyneside Disablement Advisory Centre.
  • Inner London Education Authority Central Committee of Divisional Associations of School Care Workers.
  • Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration.
  • Deanery of Telford Severn Gorge.
  • Sheffield Pensioners' Action Group.
  • Women's National Commission.
  • British Limbless Ex-Servicemen's Association.
  • Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers.
  • Association of County Councils.
  • The Retirement Association of Northern Ireland.
  • Churches Central Committee for Community Work.
  • Shafton Tenants and Residents Association.
  • St. Katherines Centre, Welfare Rights Office, Aberdeen.
  • The National Housewives Association Ltd.
  • Moray District Federation of Community Halls and Associations.
  • Brittle Bone Society.
  • National Association of Widows.
  • Standing Conference of Women's Organisations.
  • Over 60 Club, Bradninch, Exeter.
  • Society of Civil and Public Servants.
  • The Crypt Youth Centre, Wolverhampton.
  • Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute.
  • Durham County Federation of Community Organisations.
  • London Boroughs Association.
  • Tooting Action Pensioners.
  • National Council of Women of Great Britain.
  • National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers.
  • Royal Air Force Association.
  • Liberal Party, Taxation and Social Security Panel.
  • Church of Ireland, Armagh Diocesan Board of Social Responsibility.
  • Scottish Legal Action Group.
  • University Grants Committee.
  • Co-operative Union Ltd., Parliamentary Committee.
  • Dignity in Death Alliance.
  • Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
  • Western General Hospital.
  • Portchester Crematorium Joint Committee.
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  • Peterborough Trades Union Council.
  • National Consumer Council.
  • Task Force Working with Pensioners.
  • Spastics Society.
  • The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths.
  • Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
  • United Kingdom Federation of Business and Professional Women.
  • Sale Moor Afternoon Townswomen's Guild.
  • Scottish Paraplegic Association.
  • Greater London Pensioners' Trade Union Action Association.
  • General Federation of Trade Unions.
  • National Council for the Single Woman and her Dependants.
  • Royal Institution for the Blind.
  • Hetton Area Rights Centre.
  • Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • Co-operative Funeral Service Managers' Association.
  • Co-operative Women's Guild.
  • Association of Charity Officers.
  • Welsh Consumer Council.
  • National Association of Local Government Officers.
  • Conference of Metropolitan Deans.
  • Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
  • Association of Community Health Councils.
  • Law Society of Scotland.
  • Biddulph Moor Evergreen Club.
  • Scottish TUC.
  • Association of Shetland Community Councils.
  • National Joint Committee of Working Women's Organisations.
  • Scottish Association for Mental Health.
  • Manchester Trade Union Council, Pensioners and Trade
  • Unionists Association.
  • The Joint Group on Funeral Services.
  • Northamptonshire Association of Trades Councils.
  • Association of Retired Council Officers.
  • NHS Retirement Fellowship.
  • Durham Association of Parish and Town Councils.
  • Association of Grampian District Councils.
  • Catholic Social Services, Liverpool.
  • Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the British Red Cross Society.

Mr. Butterfill

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will estimate, for the latest year for which figures are available, the total expenditure on the death grant; whether he will estimate the cost represented by administration; and whether he will estimate comparable figures for the costs of supplementary benefits.

Mr. Whitney

In 1983–84, the latest date for which figures are available, the estimated cost of the death grant was £29.2 million, including administrative costs of approximately £12.5 million. For the amount of supplementary benefit paid in respect of funeral expenses I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to him on 17 December, at column47. The administrative cost of making such payments in 1982 was somewhat over £100,000.

Mr. Butterfill

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether the foreword by the Minister for Social Security to the consultative document, "The Death Grant", still represents Government policy; and if he will make a statement;

(2) whether he is satisfied with the workings of the Social Security Act 1975, section 32, schedule 3, paragraph 7 and Schedule 4, part II; and whether he will make a statement;

(3) whether he will bring forward proposals for the payment of a death grant to those parents on supplementary benefit who have suffered the loss of a stillborn baby; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Whitney

The existing provisions operate satisfactorily in that there is a take up of death grant of more than 90 per cent., although it is recognised that this no longer represents a significant contribution towards funeral costs. The purpose of the consultative document issued in 1982 was to determine whether there was a consensus in favour of a scheme which directed the available resources towards those most in need of assistance. None of the proposals in the document received popular approval and the future of the death grant, including the categories to be covered, is now being considered in the context of the formulation of wider Government proposals for the future of social security.