Benefits to rise from July 21

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 2

Benefits to rise from July 21

PA Wellington | Social Welfare benefits, including the dole, will go up next week by $10.68 a week for married couples and $6.41 for single beneficiaries. The rise to begin on July 21. will take the married couple benefit rate to $137.96 a week and the single rate to $82.78. The Minister of Social Welfare (Mr Young) said yesterday that the rises would apply to widows, invalids, domestic purposes, miners', sickness, and related emergency benefits, war veterans’ allowances, war service pensions, and veterans’ gratuities.

The new rates also apply to the unemployment benefit, but where there are no dependent children, this is taxed, making the new net weekly rate $114.77 for a married couple and $70.95 for a single beneficiary 20 or over.

There will also be proportional rises in the rates being paid to beneficiaries under 18 (20 for unemployment beneficiaries) orphans' benefits, and war orphans’ pensions, and emergency maintenance allowance. Details of these rises will be announced soon.

Mr Young said the . first payment date for the new rate of sickness benefit, unemployment, and related emergency benefits would be August 19. Invalids’, domestic purposes and widows’ benefits and war pensions would be paid at the new rate from August 24. The rises are based on an increase of 8.38 per cent in the consumers price index over the first six months of 1982, and are expected to cost $58.1 million in a full year.

Mr Young, said that an announcement of the sixmonthly rise in National Superannuation payments would be made in the next few weeks, when the latest average ordinary-time wage figure. was expected to be known. National Superannuation was last increased on March 23. Government payments and charges are exempt from the price and incomes freeze.