§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will direct the Supplementary Benefits Commission, when assessing unemployed men applying for a supplementary allowance, to include overtime and bonus when evaluating the likely total earnings in the jobs for which the claimants are considered suitable.
§ Mr. DeanIt is already the practice of the Commission to include overtime and bonus payments when estimating the likely earnings of a claimant whose supplementary allowance is affected by the wage stop provision, provided these earnings can be estimated fairly precisely. Where an unskilled claimant has been unemployed for some time and might return to any one of a number of jobs, the Local Authority National Joint Council rates for labourers are used as a general guide to his earning capacity, and possible overtime or bonus which might be available in particular jobs is not included.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services for how long the £2 earnings disregard has been in operation regarding the assessment of eligibility for supplementary benefits; and whether he will now raise it in line with the increase in national average earnings since that date.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list all those areas of the country where the operation of the wage stop has been temporarily suspended due to rising unemployment or other reasons; and if he will give the dates of suspension in each case.
§ Mr. DeanI assume the hon. Member is referring to the operation of the limited awards system, as the wage stop rule is not varied by area.
The precise information requested cannot be given without causing an undue amount of work, but the following table shows for each region operating this procedure the numbers of offices in which limited awards at the outset of certain claims were and were not being given on 20th October, 1971:
Regions of England Limited awards given Limited awards procedure not in operation East Midlands and East Anglia 9 24 London North 22 14 London South 44 4 London West 22 15 South Western 28 Nil West Midlands 25 6 The procedure is not operating in the Northern, Yorkshire and Humberside, North-Western (Manchester) and North-Western (Merseyside) regions of England, in Scotland or in Wales.
In some of the areas shown, the procedure applies only to men under the age of 35 or to men living in the city in which the local office is situated, or the places where seasonal work is still available. Arrangements are being made in some areas to withdraw the procedure from 1st November.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, according to the latest annual information available, how many elderly persons have been granted a heating allowance accompanied by a corresponding cut in their long-term addition, and in these cases how large the cuts were and how many cases were involved at each level of reduction; and where no such reductions have been made, how many elderly persons received heating allowances and at what levels of benefit.
198W
§ Mr. DeanNo statistics are kept of those whose needs for extra heating are covered by the long-term addition of 50p a week. In November, 1970, there were 166,000 supplementary pensioners whose special needs included extra heating and exceeded 50p a week, with the result that they received a further addition to their benefit. Further figures, which will take account of the improved levels of heating additions introduced recently, will be available in the spring of 1972.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many applications of the cohabitation rule have been made against recipients of supplementary allowances during each of the last 10 years; how many appeals were made against such applications during each of these years; and of these appeals how many were successful.
§ Mr. DeanI regret that the information asked for it not available except, as regards appeals, for the last three months of 1970, when a special count established that there were 67 appeals against the application of the cohabitation rule, of which 11 were successful.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many applications of the wage stop have been made by the Supplementary Benefits Commission during each of the last 10 years; how many appeals against these applications were made during each of these years; and of these appeals how many were successful.
§ Mr. DeanI regret that information is not available about the total numbers of persons to whom the wage stop has been applied during the last 10 years. Information about appeals is available only for the quarter ended 21st September, 1971. During that period there were 125 appeals in wage stop cases; the decision appealed against was amended by the Commission in 52 cases, and revised by the Appeal Tribunal in a further 17 cases.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many cases in the last year for which information is available rent payments were made to recipients of supplementary benefits cut as a result of the discovery of letters from sons or daughters; and what 199W authority such reductions are made; and what was the total sum of money saved as a result of these cutbacks.
§ Mr. DeanThe staff do not normally see, still less look for, any private correspondence of a claimant. When, however, a claimant produces a letter as evidence of regular payments from a relative any necessary adjustment of benefit is made in accordance with the Statutes. There are no records showing how often benefit is adjusted as a result of such information.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now publish the Supplementary Benefit Commission's "A" code and related codes.
§ Mr. DeanI have nothing to add to my right hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member on 6th April.—[Vol. 815, c.66.]