asked the Minister for Social Welfare if a widow may have means of up to £6 per week and still qualify for full non-contributory pension, while a single woman is allowed only £1 per week to qualify for a full elderly single woman's allowance at 58 years; and if he agrees that this apparent anomaly should be ended urgently.
Written Answers. - Widow's Pension.
183.
The relative means positions of widows and single women is as the Deputy states. The scheme of social assistance allowances for single women was designed to meet the specific needs of elderly single women who did not come within the scope of any of the social welfare schemes. The scheme was intended to provide for them an allowance analogous to unemployment assistance and the maximum rate of single woman's allowance is the same as the maximum rate of unemployment assistance payable to single persons, male or female, in an urban area and the means assessment is broadly similar to that which operates for the purpose of unemployment assistance. I have no proposals at present for any change in the scheme.