§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the present average penalty imposed on a worker found guilty of industrial misconduct, in terms of the proportion of supplementary benefit that he is denied, both for himself and his dependants.
§ Mr. PrenticeWhen a supplementary benefit claimant—who is required to register for employment—is disqualified from receiving unemployment benefit because of misconduct, or if the Supplementary Benefits Commission considers that unemployment benefit would be disallowed if such a claim were decided, a reduction is made in the supplementary allowance otherwise payable. The Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 sets this reduction at 40 per cent. of the personal scale rate of the claimant, with a maximum of 40 per cent. of the single householders's rate. The allowances for dependants are not reduced. The amount of benefit payable is affected by many factors, in particular, the number and age of dependants and the rent, so that it is not possible to express the reduction as a proportion of full entitlement. The maximum reduction at present is £7.30 a week.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to claim industrial disablement benefit; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible.
§ Mr. PrenticeEvery claimant for injury benefit is advised of his right to claim disablement benefit if he has continuing disablement, due to industrial causes, when he returns to work or when his title to injury benefit comes to an end 627W after 26 weeks of incapacity, and approximately 20 per cent. of all successful injury benefit claims are followed by successful claims for disablement benefit. In these circumstances there is no reason to suppose that there is any significant shortfall in the take-up of industrial disablement benefit.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to claim non-contributory invalidity pension; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible.
§ Mr. PrenticeBefore the introduction of non-contributory invalidity pension (NCIP), the Department's records were used to estimate that about 220,000 people might qualify for the new benefit. It is currently in payment to about 112,000, of whom some 49,000 are in hospital. About 100,000 people are receiving supplementary benefit who might qualify for NCIP if they claimed it. There would be no additional expenditure if they did so because NCIP is taken into account in the assessment of supplementary benefit entitlement.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to claim housewives' non-contributory invalidity pension; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible.
§ Mr. PrenticeBefore housewives' non-contributory invalidity pension was introduced, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' survey "Handicapped and Impaired in Great Britain" was used to estimate that about40,000 women would qualify for the benefit. Currently, almost 43,000 awards are in payment and their number continues to rise slowly. In the light of these facts and taking into account the publicity the benefit has been accorded, I do not think that there is a significant number of women who have not claimed the benefit but who would be entitled to it if they did so. If they were to claim, the cost would not, therefore, be high.
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§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to claim invalid care allowance; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible.
§ Mr. PrenticeBefore invalid care allowance (ICA) was introduced, it was estimated that 11,500 people might be eligible for it. The forecast was based on the number of people who were receiving supplementary benefit because they were looking after disabled people in their homes. During the past year, the number receiving the benefit at any time has remained almost constant at a little over 6,000, with new awards broadly balancing terminations. This experience, and the fact that ICA title depends upon the disabled person being entitled to an attendance allowance whereas supplementary benefit title for a carer does not, leads to the conclusion that the original estimate was too high and that there is now little practical difference between the number receiving the benefit and the number eligible.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to claim attendance allowance; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible.
§ Mr. PrenticeNo research has been undertaken specifically on the number entitled to attendance allowance, but the report on the survey of "Handicapped and Impaired in Great Britain"—published in 1971—estimated that there were some 260,000 very severely or severely handicapped adults in need of some attention. At 31 December 1978 some 271,000 people—of whom 47,000 were children—were receiving the allowance. There is no evidence that there is any significant further number who are entitled but fail to claim the allowance.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to 629W claim invalidity pension; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible;
(2) what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to claim invalidity allowance; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible.
§ Mr. PrenticeBecause invalidity pension and invalidity allowance are paid automatically to those who have received sickness benefit for 168 days, there is no problem of take-up to justify such research.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research his Department has undertaken into the numbers of people eligible to claim the mobility allowance; and how much additional expenditure would be required if take-up of the benefit were equal to the numbers eligible.
§ Mr. PrenticeIt was originally estimated on the basis of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' survey "Handicapped and Impaired in Great Britain" that mobility allowance would become available to approximately 100,000 new beneficiaries. This was later amended to 120,000 as a result of the extension of the upper age limit for women. There are 116,000 new beneficiaries currently in receipt of the allowance and a considerable number of claims are still in hand. When these are processed the number of current awards could reach 150,000. We have no reason to suppose that there is a general problem of take-up.