§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give an estimate of the number of households entitled to claim family income supplement and the percentage of them who are paying national insurance contributions or income tax; and of the number actually currently claiming family income supplement what is the number of and the percentage of them paying national insurance contributions.
§ Mr. NewtonThe table indicates the latest information about families receiving family income supplement. I regret that estimates cannot be provided about those who may be eligible for FIS but not claiming the benefit. In general, earnings of that group are likely to be higher than those of beneficiaries.
April 83 Number of families receiving FIS Percentage Declaring Income above Tax Threshold at time of claim Percentage Declaring Income above NIC Lower Earnings Limit 186,000* 84 94 * The number of families now receiving FIS is 204,000 (September 1983)