§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the marginal tax rate for disability working allowance claimants in receipt of community charge benefit and housing benefit if the taper in disability working allowance was set at(a) 70 per cent., (b) 40 per cent. or (c) 15 per cent.
535W
§ Mr. ScottThe combined effect on net income of the disability working allowance, housing benefit and community charge benefit tapers, where all of these applied, would be a marginal deduction rate of 94 per cent. if the disability working allowance taper were set at 70 per cent., 88 per cent. if the DWA taper were set at 40 per cent. and 83 per cent. if the DWA taper were set at 15 per cent.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his Department's estimate of the cost of including an amount in respect of mortgage interest in the calculation of the disability working allowance.
§ Mr. ScottEstimates for the disability working allowance (DWA) have necessarily been based to a significant extent on assumptions about behavioural changes among disabled people who are not currently in work. As a result, any estimate of the cost of including an amount in respect of mortgage interest in the calculation of DWA can be only tentative. We estimate, however, that the benefit cost would be of the order of £10 million.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his Department's estimate of the cost of raising the capital disregard in disability working allowance to £5,000.