§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the current cost of extending invalid care allowance to (a) married and cohabiting women and (b) everybody who is caring for at least 35 hours a week, regardless of whether the person being cared for is receiving attendance allowance (i) gross and (ii) after taking into account savings on other benefits; and, taking account of the extra tax that would be received by the Government, how many extra people would receive invalid care allowance in cases (a) and (b).
§ Mr. NewtonThe cost of extending invalid care allowance to married and cohabitating women at current rates is estimated to be £108 million a year gross and £85 million a year net of savings on other benefits. No significant tax returns would be likely to accrue from such an extension. About 96,500 women would be likely to qualify for the allowance either at the full rate or partially offset by other benefits. I regret there is no information available on which an estimate could be made of the cost of extending invalid care allowance to those caring for a person who has no entitlement to attendance allowance.