§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been, in percentage terms, the proportion to the index of average earnings, for a family consisting of husband, wife, and two children aged five and 10, of(a) child benefit, (b) unemployment benefit and (c) sickness benefit during the first six months of sickness, for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 16 December 1991]: For many families, unemployment benefit and sickness benefit are not the sole sources of benefit income.
The information requested is given in the table:
Date1 Child benefit (per cent. of earnings) Unemployment benefit (per cent. of earnings) Sickness benefit (per cent. of earnings) November 1979 7.0 29.2 29.2 November 1980 7.0 26.6 26.6 November 1981 7.0 25.4 25.4 November 1982 7.3 25.6 25.6 November 1983 7.4 25.1 24.1 November 1984 7.3 24.5 23.5 November 1985 7.0 24.7 23.6 July 1986 6.7 23.6 22.6 April 1987 6.5 22.7 21.7 April 1988 5.9 21.5 20.6 April 1989 5.4 20.8 19.9 April 1990 4.9 20.4 19.6 April 1991 4.8 20.9 20.0 1 Date used is month of uprating for the year in question.