§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will assess the advantages of allowing invalid care allowance to be paid in addition to a state-funded pension. [23351]
§ Mr. DenhamIt remains a basic principle of the Social Security system that only one benefit at a time can be paid to a person for income maintenance. Invalid Care Allowance (ICA) is designed to provide a measure of income maintenance during periods in which the claimant cannot work because of caring commitments. To pay in full in addition to another income maintenance benefit such as Retirement Pension, would be duplicating provision for the same need.
When a person is eligible for more than one benefit at the same time however, there are safeguards to ensure that she does not lose financially. In practice, Retirement Pension (RP) is paid in full taking precedence because it is the contributory benefit. If RP is higher then ICA, as frequently happens, no ICA is payable. However, if ICA is higher, then the "extra" is used to top-up the RP to the ICA rate.