HC Deb 11 May 2001 vol 368 cc387-8W
Mr. Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if national insurance numbers are checked to ensure that the declared income is the only source of tax income. [158200]

Disability Living Allowance: Numbers and percentages of cases cleared in 1998 which were outside target clearance times
New claims Renewals Reviews within three months1 Reviews outside three months2 Appeals
Month Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
January 5,306 14 2,503 14 3,291 16 1,936 13 489 10
February 4,585 14 2,202 12 2,730 15 1,572 13 512 12
March 3,746 11 2,315 13 2,652 15 1,534 13 424 8
April 2,545 8 2,147 15 2,018 13 1,004 11 274 7
May 2,704 9 2,440 18 1,557 12 890 11 324 8
June 3,072 9 3,002 19 1,906 12 1,288 12 378 9
July 3,207 9 3,304 20 1,909 12 1,618 15 432 10
August 3,038 10 3,047 23 1,858 14 1,631 17 368 10
September 3,446 11 4,332 26 1,972 13 1,994 17 394 10
October 4,054 13 3,563 20 2,014 13 2,056 16 516 12
November 6,353 18 3,566 20 2,227 15 2,053 17 431 11
December 4,991 17 2,744 19 1,730 15 1,411 15 349 11
1 Cases where the existing decision may be changed from the date it came into effect
2 Cases where the existing decision may be superseded from a later date

Mr. Rooker

[holding answer 23 April 2001]: The Department uses available information to detect discrepancies in declared income.

When a claim is made for Income Support (IS) or Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) claimants are required to provide evidence of any declared income, for example wage slips for earnings or payment slips for occupational pensions. Details on the pay slips are checked by Benefits Agency (BA) staff for deductions from pay, including the rate of income tax. Where the amount of tax deducted is disproportionate to the gross payment, or the tax code quoted seems inappropriate, further inquiries are made to establish if there is another source of taxable income being paid to the claimant.

Regular checks are made on continuing claims where there is a declared source of income to ensure that any changes have been reported. These checks confirm not only the net payment made to the claimant but the details of any deductions for tax and NI. Once again, this information can act as an indicator of other taxable income.

In addition to checks made on claims where there is a declared income, the Department work closely with Inland Revenue (IR) to detect those claimants in receipt of IS and JSA who fail to declare that they have commenced remunerative work. Tax form P46 is completed by employers for all new employees who are unable to provide a P45. IR is able to provide data to the Department of all P46 completions on a monthly basis.

The Department match the NINOs of all employees who appear in the P46 data with the NINOs of claimants who have a current claim to IS or JSA. Where the employment start date overlaps a benefit claim by more than four weeks, the case is referred to the Benefit Fraud Investigation Service (BFIS) for investigation.