§ Mr. David Steelasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will pub- 209W lish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the estimated number of families whose breadwinner was in full-time work but whose resources were below the supplementary benefit level.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownThe estimated number of families with children whose head was in full-time work but whose resources were below the supplementary benefit level at December 1972 was of the order of 40,000. This estimate is derived from Family Expenditure Survey data and is subject to very considerable sampling error.
SUPPLEMENTARY BENEFIT ORDINARY SCALE RATES AS A PERCENTAGE OF AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS* OF MALE MANUAL WORKERS IN OCTOBER Married persons Year Earnings Single householder Without children With 2 children (both aged under 5) With 4 children (two aged under 5 and two aged 5–10) £ 1948 … 6.90 17.4 29.0 39.9 52.9 1949 … 7.13 16.8 28.0 38.6 51.2 1950 … 7.52 17.3 28.9 39.6 52.9 1951 … 8.90 18.1 30.1 41.6 55.4 1952 … 8.93 19.6 33.1 45.4 60.5 1953 … 9.46 18.5 31.2 42.8 57.1 1954 … 10.22 17.1 28.9 39.6 52.8 1955 … 11.15 16.8 28.3 39.0 52.0 1956 … 11.90 16.8 28.2 39.1 52.1 1957 … 12.58 15.9 26.6 37.0 49.3 1958 … 12.83 17.5 29.6 40.9 54.2 1959 … 13.55 18.5 31.4 43.2 57.2 1960 … 14.53 17.2 29.2 40.3 53.3 1961 … 15.34 17.4 29.3 40.4 55.5 1962 … 15.86 18.1 30.1 41.5 54.7 1963 … 16.75 19.0 31.2 42.8 56.6 1964 … 18.11 17.5 28.9 39.6 52.3 1965 … 19.59 19.4 32.0 43.5 57.3 1966† … 20.30 18.7 30.9 42.0 55.3 (20.0) (32.8) (44.3) (58.1) 1967 … 21.37 20.1 33.0 44.7 58.7 1968 … 23.00 19.8 32.4 44.1 58.0 1969† … 24.83 18.3 30.0 40.9 53.8 (19.3) (31.6) (42.9) (56.2) 1970† … 28.05 17.1 28.0 38.0 49.8 (18.5) (30.3) (41.0) (53.8) 1971 … 30.93 18.8 30.6 41.5 54.4 1972 … 35.82 18.3 29.7 40.3 52.9 1973 … 40.92 17.5 28.5 38.5 50.5 * Taken from the inquiries conducted by the Department of Employment. † In these years supplementary benefit scale rates were increased in November; the entries in parenthesis show the relevant percentage of the increased rate.