§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish (a) the numbers of families claiming and in receipt of family income supplement, (b) the numbers of family income supplement recipients who are liable for income tax, (c) the estimated effect of the 1984 budget changes on these figures and (d) estimates of the take-up rate of family income supplement.
§ Mr. NewtonAt the end of December 1983 there were 201,000 families in receipt of family income supplement, of which 120,000 were two-parent families and 81,000 were one-parent families. Over the 12 months prior to that date, 351,000 claims were received.
Reliable information on the annual income of FIS recipients is not available. However of the 186,000 families receiving FIS in April 1983, 157,000 (84 per cent.) had a weekly taxable income above the 1982–83 tax threshold at the date when the claim was made. It is estimated that about three quarters of FIS recipients will have incomes above the tax threshold in 1984–85. The number will be 10,000 fewer than it would have been otherwise because of the increases in the tax thresholds from April 1984.
The latest estimate of FIS take—up is about half, derived from the "Family Finances Survey" in 1978–79.