AQW 7186/08

Mrs Naomi Long
Alliance Party
East Belfast

Tabled Date: 19/05/2008
Answered On Date: 29/05/2008
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Social Development what discussions she has held with her counterpart in the United Kingdom Government to address the issue of widows and widowers being denied access to benefits, including the Special Transitional Allowance, previously available to them as part of a married couple.

Answer:

Under the previous Supplementary Benefit scheme, a person's benefit may have included an additional amount of £10 or more to meet the cost of essential private domestic help needed because of, for example, old age or ill health. When the Income Support scheme replaced Supplementary Benefit in April 1988, a Special Transitional Addition was awarded to protect the person's rate of benefit when they moved from Supplementary Benefit to the Income Support scheme.

A Special Transitional Addition was not awarded to a person claiming Income Support following the death of a partner who had been the Supplementary Benefit recipient. The provisions for Special Transitional Additions correspond to those in Great Britain.

With the exception of the Special Transitional Addition, widows and widowers are not denied access to benefit.