§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer, net 691W of savings on means-tested benefits, of increasing the rate of Invalid Care Allowance to the level of the basic State Pension. [1460]
§ Maria EagleThe estimated additional cost of this change would be £650 million in 2001–02 (cost net of savings on Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit would be £340 million). However, this change would only benefit carers not in receipt of Income Support (IS) or where the increase is greater than the current value of their IS. 230,000 people would see an increase in their net income.
In April 2001 the Carer Premium paid through Income Related Benefits was increased by an extra £10 per week and the Invalid Care Allowance (ICA) Earnings Limit was increased by £22 per week. We intend to legislate to extend ICA to people aged 65 or over and to enable ICA to continue for up to eight weeks after the death of the person being cared for. These changes will help an estimated 300,000 carers at a cost of more than £500 million over three years.
Notes:
1. Estimate is rounded to the nearest £10 million
2. The gross ICA cost is based on the forecast ICA caseload for 2001–02.
3. The income-related benefit offsets have been calculated from data taken from the November 2000 5 per cent. scan of the Income Support computer system, and the May 1999 1 per cent. sample of HB/CTB claims. These offsets have been applied to the 2001–02 ICA forecast to obtain the savings in the income-related benefits.
4. The estimate assumes that the basic rate of ICA will be increased to the level of the category A Retirement Pension, and that there would be no changes made to the dependency increases in ICA.
5. The costing allows for the £5 increase in Retirement Pension in 2001–02.
BASIS staff employed in each area for the past 12 months 2001 2001 Teams May June July August September October November December January February March April May Hinchley Wood 60 60 58 58 58 55 55 53 52 53 53 53 56 Canons Park 44 45 46 47 47 49 48 48 50 50 50 46 45 Birmingham 19 21 20 19 20 20 19 19 22 19 20 20 20 Nottingham 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 18 Leeds 19 19 19 18 18 20 20 21 21 21 21 21 22 Manchester 18 18 18 17 21 19 19 20 20 20 20 21 21 Cardiff 15 15 16 15 15 15 16 17 17 18 17 15 15 Liverpool 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 Newcastle 17 17 17 19 19 19 19 19 19 21 21 22 21 Glasgow 21 21 18 18 18 21 19 19 19 19 19 18 18 Total 247 250 247 246 251 253 251 252 258 259 259 254 256
Complement of BASIS staff at each office and vacant posts BASIS teams Complement of Staff Vacancies declared Hinchley Wood 69 13 Canons Park 69 24 Birmingham 21 1 Nottingham 21 3 Leeds 21 0 Manchester 21 0 Cardiff 21 6 Liverpool 21 1 Newcastle 21 0 Glasgow 21 3