Vol. 540 No. 3
232 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will clarify the situation in relation to the payment of qualified adult dependant allowances to persons on invalidity pension; when the qualified adult dependant allowance ceases; if a sliding scale exists for invalidity pension as it does for those on unemployment benefit; if not; the reason therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20641/01]
Regulations currently provide for the tapered withdrawal of the qualified adult allowance for claimants of certain welfare payments where the spouse or partner of the claimant is earning between £70 and £145 per week. The QAA is withdrawn when the spouse or partner's weekly income exceeds £145.
Prior to April 2000 the arrangement did not apply to invalidity pension. As part of a range of measures in the 2000 budget aimed at improving the position of families where one spouse is in low paid employment, the tapering arrangement was extended to invalidity pension from April 2000.
The arrangements in relation to invalidity pension differ slightly from unemployment benefit. The reason for this is that the level of QAA varies from one payment to another, so to phase out the payment over the same income range, that is £70 to £145, for all payments, the withdrawal rate varies with the level of QAA. In the case of invalidity pension where the spouse-partner of the pensioner is under 66 years the QAA is reduced by £3.70 for each £5 of income. Where the spouse/partner of the pensioner is over 66 years the QAA is reduced by £4.50 for each £5 of income. In the case of unemployment benefit where weekly earnings are between £70 and £85 the withdrawal rate is £2.50 for each £5 of income. Where the earnings of the spouse/partner exceed £85 per week the QAA is reduced by £3.50 for each additional £5 of income.
I have also made a number of more recent changes in this area. With effect from last April, I substantially increased the qualified adult allowances and extended the upper income limit from £135 to its current £145. These measures, in tandem with the improvements that have been introduced over previous budgets, will ensure that the impact of increases in earnings are not negated for families where the spouse is the sole earner and in low paid employment.
