At present claimants with means of up to £6 a week can qualify for the maximum old age or widow's pension. However, if the claimant has a job and dependants the weekly amount of his earnings which can be disregarded is much higher. This also applies in the case of allowances for deserted wives, prisoners' wives, unmarried mothers and the new schemes for widowers and deserted husbands. There is no disregard of this kind under the unemployment assistance or supplementary welfare allowance schemes.
Only a minority of recipients are adversely affected by the present levels of disregards. For example, at the end of February 1990, 70 per cent of old age pensioners, 64 per cent of widows and about 78 per cent of claimants receiving allowances as deserted wives, prisoners' wives and unmarried mothers were in receipt of maximum payments.
The Government, while maintaining the overall value of social welfare payments, have made significant additional resources available to increase the payments to those on the lowest levels, particularly the long-term unemployed. The policy of using any resources available to provide increases in basic rates of payment ensures these resources are chanelled to all recipients. On the other hand, increasing the levels of disregards would mean channelling resources specifically to those recipients who already have means.
The question of a change in the levels of disregards would be a matter for consideration in a budgetary context.