asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reasons he has excluded unemployed persons and their dependants from the double-payment of social welfare benefits for Christmas; and whether it is his intention to reverse this decision so as to alleviate the hardship presently being experienced by the families involved.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits Double-Payment.
272.
As announced on 25 October last the Government decided that a double-payment would be made for Christmas to recipients of the following social welfare payments:
old age, retirement, blind, invalidity and occupational injury pensions and payments for widows and orphans, deserted wives, unmarried mothers, single women and prisoner's wives.
The double payment also applies to recipients of the following health allowances:
disabled persons maintenance allowance, infectious diseases maintenance allowance, blind welfare allowance and domiciliary care allowance for handicapped children.
These are the same categories who benefited from a Christmas double-payment in each of the last four years 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. In all some 414,000 persons benefit from the extra payment at a cost to the Exchequer of some £20 million.
As in previous years no provision was made in the original Social Welfare Estimate for the double-payment at Christmas. The necessary provision had therefore to be found within the Government's overall spending targets for 1984 and the maximum amount that was available was some £20 million. It would not be possible to dispense it strictly on the basis of financial need without having an across the board means test for all recipients. It was necessary therefore to choose in terms of broad categories of recipients and the Government decided to give the double-payment to those who benefited in past years i.e. pensioners and those in receipt of equivalent payments.
The extra cost of giving a double payment to receipients of unemployment benefit and assistance would be about £11 million. Those on long term unemployment assistance had received in October 1983 a special 5 per cent increase in their payments and in July of this year a further 1 per cent increase above the general level of increase for social welfare beneficiaries. Those special increases are equivalent to an extra weeks payments to those on long term unemployment assistance. As regards unemployment benefit pay-related benefit in many cases provides a high overall level of payment.