§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services under what circumstances payments of hire-purchase and other commitments are paid out of public moneys on behalf of people in receipt of social security; and what has been the total expenditure involved in each year since these payments started to be made.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe Supplementary Benefits Commission will assist those beneficiaries who came on to benefit with hire-purchase commitments for essential furniture and household equipment incurred previously, unless the beneficiary has sufficient capital to meet the outstanding debt and leave a margin of not less than £150. Help may be given by way of a weekly addition to benefit or by a single lump-sum payment. The commission's policy is set out in detail in paragraphs
1971 1972 1973 1974 Benefit costs … … … £2.3m. * £9.2m. £12.0m. £12.2m. Administration costs … … … £0.5m. £0.6m. £0.6m.† £0.9m.‡ Number of staff employed … … … § 140 135 130 Number of claims made … … … 158,733 304,131 167,966 148,021 Number of awards made … … … 80,931 184,021 94,221 72,349 * The FIS Scheme ran for less than half of this year. † Revised estimate. ‡ Provisional. § During the initial take-on period in 1971 approximately 200 staff were employed in the FIS Branch at Blackpool Central Office augmented by the use of casual staff in local offices. The work is now entirely centralised at Blackpool. Estimates of the numbers of families entitled to receive FIS are based on limited information and are subject to wide margins of error. It is estimated that during 1972 FIS was claimed by about half the families entitled to the supplement. It is provisionally estimated that during 1973 and 1974 take up had increased to about two-thirds and three-quarters, respectively. Prior to October 1972 the normal period of a FIS award was 26 weeks; since then it has been 52 weeks.