§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 13 January 1999,Official Report, columns 222–23, on income support, what assessment he has made of the gender breakdown of the one in four pensioners whom he expects to be on income support in 2050. [71437]
§ Angela EagleThe information is not available. Projections forward to 2050 are subject to a high degree of uncertainty, given the number of assumptions that need to be made in making these estimates. Estimates have been made by extrapolating estimates from the PENSIM model, but these can only give a broad indication of the likely order of magnitude of figures so far into the future.
§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the effects of his over-indexation of income support rates for pensioners on the number of pensioners receiving(a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit in 1999–2000. [71957]
§ Mr. TimmsIt is estimated that, as a result of increasing the Income Support rates for pensioners above price indexation in April 1999, an additional 5,000 pensioners will become entitled to Housing Benefit and an additional 10,000 cases will become entitled to Council Tax Benefit.
Notes:
- 1. The estimates are based on the 1995–6 Family Resources Survey and have been adjusted by administrative data. Figures are uprated to 1999–2000 prices and benefit levels and rounded to the nearest 5,000 cases.
- 2. Pensioners are defined as pensioner benefit units at and above State pension age, (at least one of SPA or above), rather than individual Pensioners.
- 3. The two figures do not sum. Pensioners entitled to Housing Benefit will also be entitled to Council Tax Benefit, but not all Council Tax Benefit recipients will be receiving Housing Benefit.