HC Deb 12 December 1994 vol 251 c542W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the cost, in a full year, of full uprating of child dependency additions of all categories using their year of introduction as a base.

Mr. Roger Evans

[holding answer 5 December 1994]: The estimated net cost would be £90 million in 1994–95:

Notes:

  1. 1. The estimate has been calculated by:
    1. (i) taking the child dependency increase rate—CDI—for the eldest child payable in 1948, the year of introduction; then
    2. (ii) inflating that figure to take account of upratings from 1948 up to and including April 1994. The percentage rate of increase used is the same as that of personal retirement pension; then
    3. (iii) deducting the rates of child benefit payable from April 1994 to arrive at the rates that would apply for both the eldest child and subsequent children; then
    4. (iv) following conversion to an annual gross figure, applying an offsetting reduction on expenditure on income-related benefits.
  2. 2. The estimate excludes the cost of restoring sickness benefit, maternity allowance and unemployment benefit CDIs, which were discounted with effect from November 1984.
  3. 3. The estimate has been rounded to the nearest £5 million and should be treated with caution owing to small sample sizes.