HC Deb 27 February 2003 vol 400 cc709-10W
Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what value of crisis loans were paid to benefit recipients experiencing delays in the administration of their benefits in each year since 1997. [99559]

Malcolm Wicks

We recognise that many people making a claim to benefit will be in need of immediate financial support. To avoid unnecessary hardship, discretionary payments on account of benefit (interim payments) can be made where a claim has not been determined but the decision maker is satisfied that the basic conditions of entitlement for the benefit are likely to be met. The amount of any interim payment is automatically recoverable from the main benefit when it is awarded.

Crisis Loan alignment payments can be made to people awaiting their first payment of benefit which is paid in arrears, or their first payment of wages. Crisis Loans made to people awaiting benefit payments will cover their needs until their first benefit pay-day, following which full or interim payments of benefit can be made. In the main, these payments are made to people of working age (as pensioners are generally paid in advance). Information is not collected separately on the number or value of alignment payments made to people awaiting a first payment of benefit.

The available information is in the table. The figures show the total number and value of Crisis Loan alignment payments made, including those made to people awaiting payment of their first wage.

Social Fund Crisis Loan Alignment Payments
Number of payments Expenditure(£million)
1997–98 398,731 17
1998–99 433,851 20
1999–2000 474,076 23
2000–01 476,936 24
2001–02 486,031 27

Notes

  1. 1. Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £million.
  2. 2. Awards including alignment payments may include other items.
  3. 3. Technical problems with the Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System mean that figures for 1997–98 and 1998–99 may be subject to a margin of error of 5 per cent. to 10 per cent. and should therefore be treated as a guide only.

Sources

Annual Reports by the Secretary of State on the Social Fund 1997–98 to 2001–02; and the Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System