§ Ms. Clare ShortTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many additional people would qualify for the following benefits if the capital limits were increased to(a) £8,000, where applicable, (b) £10,000, (c) £12,000 or (d) abolished; and what would be the full year cost of each of these changes at current benefit levels (i) income support, (ii) family credit, (iii) National Health Service benefits, (iv) housing benefit, (v) community charge benefit and (vi) the social fund.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe estimates are as follows (assuming in each case that the present rules for imputing a weekly income to capital holdings of more than £3,000 are maintained): 655W
Additional people qualifying (Thousands) Full year cost at current rate (£ million) Upper capital limit IS FC HB CCB IS FC HB CCB £8,000 10 1— — — 25 2— — — £10,000 20 1— 25 35 45 2— 20 10 £12,000 30 1— 30 55 55 2— 25 15 Abolished 40 31.5 40 85 65 41 50 20 1 Denotes less than 1.5 thousand people. 2 Denotes less than £1 million. 3 Approximately. 4 Around. Because most expenditure from the social fund is discretionary, it is not possible to estimate the effect on the fund of implementing the changes.
Qualification for the NHS low income scheme depends not only on the patient's financial circumstances but on the nature and level of the particular charge or expenses incurred. Therefore meaningful estimates of the effect of changing the capital limits are not possible.