Vol. 508 No. 3
317 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs when a level of £60 per week was set for the level of earnings of a spouse in relation to the qualified adult dependant rate for payment of social welfare; and the plans, if any, he has to increase this level. [18974/99]
The earnings limit of £60 for the purposes of determining entitlement to a qualified adult allowance was set at £60 in June 1993. In the interim, two important measures have been introduced.
First, in November 1997, I signed and arranged to be brought into force regulations which allowed for the tapered withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance for people getting unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance, disability benefit, disability allowance, pre-retirement allowance, injury benefit and unemployability supplement whose spouse was earning between £60 and £90 per week.
Second, I signed and arranged to be brought into force regulations within the last week which extend these arrangements to cover spouses' incomes of up to £105, with effect from early October, 1999.
Under these revised arrangements, if the person getting the social welfare payment is on the maximum rate, and their spouse or partner is earning between £60 and £105 per week, the increase in respect of the qualified adult is payable as follows:–
|
Spouse's Income |
SW Increase |
|
Income up to £60 |
£43.20 |
|
Income between £60.01 and £65.00 |
£38.70 |
|
Income between £65.01 and £70.00 |
£34.20 |
|
Income between £70.01 and £75.00 |
£29.70 |
|
Income between £75.01 and £80.00 |
£25.20 |
|
Income between £80.01 and £85.00 |
£20.70 |
|
Income between £85.01 and £90.00 |
£16.20 |
|
Income between £90.01 and £95.00 |
£11.70 |
|
Income between £95.01 and £100.00 |
£ 7.20 |
|
Income between £100.01 and £105.00 |
£ 2.70 |
|
Income above £105.00 |
nil |
