§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the Social Security (Dependency) Amendment Regulations 1992; and why it was decided to bring them into operation the day after they were laid before Parliament.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe Social Security (Dependency) Amendment Regulations 1992 remake the regulations which provide the earnings rules for increases of504W retirement pension and other benefits for adult dependants. The intention of the earnings rules is to reduce or remove the dependency increase if the dependant has earnings, including any occupational pension, above a certain level. In 1987, a social security commissioner decided that occupational pensions could be taken into account only if the dependant was working. That was never the intention and amendments to the Social Security Act in 1988 were thought to have restored the position so that all occupational pensions could be taken into account, whether the dependant was working or not. However, in a judgment given on 2 December 1992 the Court of Appeal ruled that the amendments to the Act did not automatically carry through to the subordinate regulations. Consequently it remained the case that occupational pensions could only be taken into account if the dependant was working. However, the court's judgment also meant that all that was required for the earnings rules to apply in the way intended was to introduce fresh regulations. In view of this, and in order to keep the additional expenditure as a result of the judgment to a minimum, it was decided to bring the new regulations into force without waiting for the usual 21 days after they were laid.