Vol. 421 No. 6
134 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline the amount of full widow's contributory pension and the full old age contributory pension; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that widows living alone are not granted a living alone allowance.
The maximum weekly personal rate of widow's contributory pension is £58.20 for a widow under 80 years of age and £62.40 for a widow aged 80 or over. Those rates will increase to £60.50 and £64.90 per week respectively when the increase announced in the budget come into effect on 31 July 1992.
In the case of old age contributory pension, the maximum weekly personal rate is £64 for pensioners under 80 and £68.20 for those 80 or over. Similarly, those rates will increase to £66.60 and £71 respectively with effect from 31 July 1992.
The living alone allowance is payable to recipients of certain social security type payments who are 66 years of age or over and, who are living alone. Widows who meet those requirements are entitled to the allowance. The extension of the living alone allowance to categories under 66 years of age would have cost implications which would have to be considered in a budgetary context.
