§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the basis for the calculation by his noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, of the amount of money saved by a typical married woman who opted to pay National Insurance contributions at the reduced rate. [86072]
§ Mr. McCartneyMy noble Friend quoted an illustrative example comparing what a married woman would have paid in full and reduced rate National Insurance contributions if she had earned around £4,000 in 1977 rising evenly to around £27,000 in 2002. The saving of £18,000 in this case is the total cash saving and has not been adjusted upward to take account of inflation over the period. The exact amount of savings any married woman will enjoy depends on her level of earnings because the amount of National Insurance contributions is calculated based on earnings.