HC Deb 07 December 1999 vol 340 cc491-2W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many non-resident parents are exempt from payment of child support maintenance under regulation 26 of the Child Support (Maintenance Assessment and Special Cases) Regulations 1992 on the grounds that they have the family premium included in the calculation or estimation of their protected income level. [101202]

Angela Eagle

There are 44,440 non-resident parents on benefit who are exempt from payment of child support maintenance under regulation 26 because they are receiving the family premium.

Note:

29,240 on Income-and 15,200 on income-based Jobseeker's Allowance.

Source:

August 1999 scan of Income Support and JSA Computer Systems.

Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the number of parents with care who will have the level of their maintenance assessments reduced under the proposed changes to the child support scheme and are(a) not in receipt of tax credits, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance and (b) in receipt of tax credits but have a child support assessment under the current rules of less than £15 per week. [101201]

Angela Eagle

We estimate that, of the parents with care whose current maintenance assessment is higher than the liability worked out using the new rates, there are around 140,000 who are not in receipt of tax credits, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance. On the same basis, there are around 10,000 parents with care who we anticipate will have a lower maintenance calculation under the new scheme who are receiving tax credit and have a child support assessment of less than £15 a week.

Notes:

1. New scheme maintenance modelled on August 1998 5 per cent. scan of the Child Support computer system.

2. Caseloads calibrated to forecast "A" day levels and are rounded to the nearest 10,000.

Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost of disregarding the full amount of child support maintenance payment received in calculating entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit. [101203]

Angela Eagle

We estimate that the cost of fully disregarding maintenance payments in Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit would be about £30 million a year. This includes an estimate for the cost for cases who would become newly entitled as a result of the full disregard.

Notes:

1. Cost for existing claims based on data taken from May 1998 HBMIS dataset, a 1 per cent. survey of HB claims.

2. Cost for cases who become newly entitled is calculated from data taken from 1996–97 Family Resources Survey uprated to 2000–01 prices, benefits and earnings levels.

3. Costs and Caseloads are calibrated to forecast caseloads for 2000–01. The cost has been rounded to the nearest £l0 million.

4. This cost will include a small element of spousal maintenance.