asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he has any proposals to extend the Christmas bonus to (i) those who have been in receipt of disability benefit on a long term basis and (ii) to other comparable groups.
19.
Written Answers. - Christmas Bonus.
9.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the plans he has to pay a Christmas bonus to social welfare recipients; the percentage of the bonuses from 1982 to 1988 inclusive which will be paid; the categories which will and will not qualify; if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 19 together.
I am delighted to inform the House that a Christmas bonus will be paid this year and will be increased to 70 per cent of normal weekly payments instead of the 65 per cent which applied for the last three years. It will be paid in the first week in December and will benefit almost 940,000 people comprising 590,000 recipients, with an estimated 350,000 dependants. It will for the first time also be paid to widowers and deserted husbands on the new allowance scheme. The cost of the bonus this year is £24 million compared to £21 million last year.
This increased Christmas bonus will be particularly helpful to old age pensioners and other long-term recipients in meeting the extra costs which arise at this time of the year. The impact of this increase can be seen from the following examples showing the payments in the first week in December: (a) An old age couple (contributory pension), both aged over 66, will receive a bonus of £71.50, giving a total payment of £173.70, an increase of £10 over last year; (b) A widow (non-contributory pension) with three children will receive a bonus of £61.80 giving a total payment of £150.10, an increase of £8.70 over last year; (c) A married man with three children on long-term unemployment assistance will receive a bonus of £74.90 giving a total payment of £181.90, an increase of £18.90 over last year.
I introduced for the first time a special Christmas bonus for pensioners equivalent to a full week's payment in 1980. A similar bonus was paid each year up to and including 1984. In 1985 the bonus was reduced to 75 per cent in order to finance the inclusion of the long-term unemployed. The bonus was further reduced to 65 per cent in 1986 and remained at that level up to and including last year. This year, the Government have increased the bonus to 70 per cent of normal weekly payments.
The categories who benefit from the Christmas bonus payment are those in receipt of the following: old age pensions (contributory and non-contributory); widow's and orphan's pensions (contributory and non-contributory); widower's (non-contributory) pension; retirement pension; blind pension; invalidity pension; deserted wife's benefit and allowance; deserted husband's allowance; social assistance allowance for unmarried women, prisoners' wives and single women; unemployment assistance at the long term rate; occupational injuries benefit paid by way of pensions; long term health payments such as disabled person's maintenance allowance, infectious diseases maintenance allowance, blind welfare allowance and domiciliary care allowance for handicapped children.
Disability benefit is a short-term payment and those who receive it on a long-term basis can apply for invalidity pension which qualifies for the bonus. I would remind Deputies of the value of our Christmas bonus which compares very favourably with the £10 bonus, paid to pensioners only, in the United Kingdom.