§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people he estimates will be affected by the proposed cuts in invalidity benefit and unemployment benefit announced in November's Budget.
§ Mr. ScottAll new claimants to incapacity benefit who would have been entitled to invalidity benefit under the current scheme will be affected. Existing invalidity benefit recipients will experience no cash reduction at the point of change; about 200,000 may lose entitlement to incapacity benefit over the first two to three years of the new scheme through application of the new medical test. The number affected by proposals to introduce the new job seeker's allowance will depend on the level of unemployment and the rates of benefit in 1996–97. Our current estimate is that about 250,000 people may at any one time find they would have been better off under the unemployment benefit scheme.