§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they are proposing to review the extra supplementary benefit allowance of £1.25 for blind people, when payment of this allowance was 1359WA introduced, and how much the allowance would be today if it had been adjusted for inflation since then.
§ Lord GlenarthurPreferential treatment for blind people was incorporated into the national assistance scheme as a continuation of local authority practices under the Blind Persons Acts of 1920 and 1938. Between 1948 and 1980 there were separate blind scale rates. The adult rate exceeded the ordinary scale rate by 15s.(£0.75) in July 1948. The extra allowance was set at its present level of £1.5s. (£1.25) in November 1969. It was incorporated into the regulated supplementary benefit scheme as a separate blind addition in 1980. If the extra allowance of 1948 had been increased in line with the movement in the retail price index it would have been £8.21 in November 1983. The Government have no plans to review the allowance.