HC Deb 27 February 1973 vol 851 cc319-20W
Mr. David Steel

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many working families are earning less than the current supplementary benefit level; and how many of these are £2 below.

Sir K. Joseph

The latest estimates suggest that there were approximately 54,000 two-parent families in Great Britain with the head in full-time work but with resources below supplementary benefit levels at the end of 1971, of whom probably fewer than 15,000 had resources £2 a week or more below those levels. The estimates are comparable with those published in "Two Parent Families" (HMSO, 1971) and are subject to the same margins of error.