§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether transitional payments to claimants unable to qualify for income support because of the definition of remunerative work will be calculated and withdrawn in accordance with the transitional arrangement regulations 1988.
§ Mr. Peter LloydSince transitional payments made to people unable to qualify for income support because of the definition of remunerative work are discretionary, they are not subject to any regulations. Such payments are eroded by increases in income, such as earnings and other social security benefits.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many(a) claimants who work more than 24 hours per week ceased to qualify for supplementary benefit on 6 April 1988, and (b) how many of those claimants have applied for and been awarded transitional protection under the new arrangements announced earlier this year.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation about the number of claimants who ceased to qualify for benefit because they worked 24 hours or more a week was not collected. A total 677W of 293 people affected by the new rules applied for payments under the arrangements announced last April, of whom 123 were awarded payments. These figures include those claimants whose partners were working 24 hours or more.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action is being taken in his Department's offices to identify claimants who ceased to qualify for supplementary benefit in April 1988 because of the changed definition of remunerative work for the purposes of assessing eligibility for transitional protection.
§ Mr. Peter LloydWhilst local offices were not required to trawl for cases eligible for transitional protection they have been instructed to refer cases of any former supplementary benefit recipients, which come to their attention, to the transitional protection unit (TPU).
Two campaigns in the national press were initiated in May and July 1988 which publicised TP payments. In addition, stocks of an explanatory leaflet SB22, with attached application form, were issued to local offices, post offices and local authorities. Supplies of an information leaflet (Fig 8) were also issued to local authorities and advisory bodies which outlined the help available from the TPU.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many(a) claimants in receipt of supplementary benefit for the year 1987–88 were (i) in receipt of housing costs for mortgage interest repayments, (ii) were working 24 hours per week or more or (iii) had a partner who was working 24 hours per week or more, and (b) if he will provide this information on the basis of weekly mortgage interest repayments of (1) less than £25, (2) £25 or more but less than £50, (3) £50 or more but less than £75, (4) £75 or more but less than £100 and (5) £100 or more.
§ Mr. Peter LloydI regret that the information is not available in the form requested.
The latest available data on the amounts included in supplementary benefit assessments for mortgage interest are shown in the table. These are derived from table 7.11 of the May 1987 annual statistical enquiry, a copy of which is in the Library. No information is available on the numbers of supplementary benefit claimants or their partners who were working 24 hours or more a week.
Numbers of owner occupier supplementary benefit claimants with mortgage interest included in their assessments, May 1987 Weekly amount included in Supplementary Benefit assessment for mortgage interest Numbers of claimants Nil to £25.00 244 633 £25.01 to £50.00 72,520 £50.01 to £75.00 11,080 £75.01 to £100.00 3,773 £100.01 and over 1,801 Total 333,809