HL Deb 04 March 1982 vol 427 cc1451-2WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the figure of £96 per week as the cost to public funds of each extra person unemployed covers departmental and other administrative overheads; and what is the total figure for administrative overheads in the case of:

  1. (a) Supplementary Benefit
  2. (b) Attendance Allowance and Invalid Care Allowance
  3. (c) Child Benefit
  4. (d) One-parent Benefit
  5. (e) Maternity Allowance
  6. (f) Unemployment Benefit
  7. (g) The various special employment measures;
and what is the total sum in each of these cases paid out to claimants.

Lord Elton

Estimates given by Treasury of the additional public expenditure associated with a 100,000 increase in registered unemployment do include an estimate of administrative expenditure. The administrative costs and the amounts paid out on the other items in 1981–82 are estimated as:

Administrative cost Amount paid
£ million £ million
(a) Supplementary benefit … 535 4,880
(b) Attendance allowance and invalid care allowance … 14 290
(c) Child benefit … 85 3,475
(d) One-parent benefit
(e) Maternity benefit (including maternity grant) … 12 178
(f) Unemployment benefit … 145 1,983
(g) The various special employment measures … 65 1,000