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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 4 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 2

Priority Questions. - Pension Provisions.

John Browne

Ceist:

29 Mr. Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny) asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of widows receiving contributory pensions who are under 66 years of age; the number who are over 66 years of age; and if he plans to remove the anomaly where those under 66 years get less than those over 66 years of age. [19760/01]

At present there are 100,710 people in receipt of a widow or widower's (contributory) pension. Of these, 34,124 are aged under 66 and 66,586 are aged over 66. Age 66 is regarded as the standard qualifying age for pension purposes under the social welfare system. The current arrangements, whereby increased payments are generally made to those over 66 years of age, reflect the Government's commitment to our older people. Accordingly, there is a higher payment to those in receipt of the widow or widower's (contributory) pension who are aged over 66. In line with the Government's commitment to pensioners and as announced in budget 2001, I decided to increase the widow and widower's (contributory) pension rate for recipients aged over 66 to the full old age (contributory) pension rate over two budgets. The special increase of £12.90 per week which came into effect in April was the first step in this process.

The maximum rate of widow and widower's (contributory) pension is now £102 per week for those aged over 66. The current maximum rate of payment for those aged under 66 is £89.10 per week. Significant extra resources are being allocated to improving the position of pensioners. In addition, the Government is committed to improving the position of all other welfare recipients, particularly those with children. The Government is committed to dramatically increasing child benefit by £1 billion over the next three years. In budget 2001 I provided for an increase of £25 per month for each of the first and second children and £30 per month for each of the third and subsequent children. These increases came into effect in June of this year, three months earlier than normal, and will be of major benefit to the 8,900 people aged under 66 who have children and are in receipt a widow or widower's contributory pension.

In budget 2000 I introduced the widowed parent's grant to provide additional support to those with children, for the difficult time immediately after a bereavement. This grant of £1,000 is payable in addition to the bereavement grant of £500 and other after-death payment arrangements.

Additional information.

The adequacy of all welfare payments is being reviewed by a working group, established under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, to examine the range of issues associated with the benchmarking and indexation of social welfare payments. The level of payments to widowed people will be examined in the context of that working group. I understand the group is aiming to conclude its deliberations at the end of this month and I believe the final report will be presented shortly thereafter. Social welfare provision for widowed people will be kept under review in the context of overall budgetary considerations.

(Carlow-Kilkenny): I thank the Minister for the first 15 seconds of his answer; the rest of it was irrelevant. Does he accept that a widow who may be in her 30s should get less than a widow in her 70s whose family may be able to look after her, whereas the younger widow has to look after her children? Does he accept that is fair?

I do accept that. There seems to be, and there always has been, a view in this House and among politicians that widows need special treatment. What the Deputy suggests in his question is that we should single out, in some way, one section of lone parents and treat them differently from ordinary lone parents or deserted wives with children. It is not legally possible to do that, that is one of the difficulties we have. I have had representations on this from all sides of the House, including my parliamentary party, and it is one of the reasons I introduced the special £1,000 bereavement grant for a widow with children. It has benefited approximately 11,000 people per year since it was introduced.

While I have some sympathy in this respect, to make a different change regarding an increase in the one parent family payment would cause difficulties elsewhere in the system. It would leave us open to a challenge. We have examined every available way of assisting widows under 66 with children and will continue to do so.

(Carlow-Kilkenny): Does the Minister accept that even if he increases children's allowances or benefits, the widow looking after young children will not have enough money to cater for their needs? Does he accept that such a widow, as distinct from a widow with no children to look after or whose adult children can look after her, will not have enough money? Does he accept it is time to tackle the legal constraints which prevent basic payments being made to widows under 66 to bring justice to people who are in difficult positions?

There are not only legal constraints. Why should a widow, living side by side with a deserted wife with the same number of children, get more proportionally? That is the difficulty we face. At the same time, the circumstances of the single parenthood of the widow could be more difficult than those of a deserted wife, although that would not be the same in every case. That is why a widow deserves different recognition that other similar family arrangements. Given the fact the Deputies from all sides of the House have made representations in this area, we have looked at this over the past two budgets if not more to see if we could do something different. The best we could come up with was the £1,000 bereavement grant. I can assure the Deputy that it is an issue which we will look at very closely in the run-up to the next budget.

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