§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners have been awarded(a) Income Support and (b) the Minimum Income Guarantee in each quarter since 1997; and how many of these new claims can be attributed to a take-up campaign. [155414]
§ Mr. RookerThe information is in the table.
263W
Income Support pensioner/Minimum Income Guarantee claims February 1997 to November 2000 Thousand Quarter 1997 1998 1999 2000 February 49.3 49.3 50.0 44.4 May 63.8 49.8 63.5 65.6 August 52.8 47.7 55.9 73.6 November 47.4 48.6 51.8 91.4 Notes:
1. Pensioners are defined where the claimant and/or partner are aged 60 or over
2. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling error
3. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and are expressed in thousands
4. Numbers are based on point in time inquiries therefore no account can be taken of influxes and outflows between the dates of inquiries. This will underestimate the true levels of flows onto benefit
Source:
Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiries, November 1996 to November 2000
We are unable to determine the number of claims that have been received as a direct result of the Minimum Income Guarantee take up campaign.