§ Mr. Molloyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many people are currently receiving the new non-contributory invalidity pension; what is the net annual cost of payment; and if she will make a statement;
(2) what action she is taking about the shortfall in the number of people who had been expected to benefit from the new cash benefits for disabled people.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisI am concerned that there may be sick or disabled people who could be helped by the new cash benefits but who are not claiming the money to which Parliament has given them a legal right. In addition to publicity through the media, by posters and leaflets, voluntary bodies and hon. Members on both sides of the House are giving a great deal of help in making the new benefits more widely known. I am grateful for this help and am keeping those who are professionally concerned with the problems of disabled people fully in the picture.
My hon. Friend will appreciate that estimates made in advance of the numbers of people likely to qualify for 557W new benefits must inevitably be speculative. Fewer claims than were expected can simply mean that expectations were excessive. From the estimated 220,000 beneficiaries of the new non-contributory invalidity pension there have been 120,000 successful claims so far. The net cost at current levels of benefit is expected to be of the order of £12 million in 1976–77. We have contacted personally all those identified from our local office records as likely to qualify, about half of whom have subsequently claimed. All eligible long-stay mental hospital patients are being awarded the new benefit, which in most cases is more beneficial to them in cash terms, as well as in security of title, than the payments they have received up to now. Their number is, however, turning out to be less than earlier estimates had suggested. In addition to these two groups, it had been estimated, from 1968–9 survey data, that there might be about 15,000 new beneficiaries; but so far there are only some 8,000. It is particularly here that there may be people not claiming who would benefit substantially if they did, and where continuing publicity is likely to be of most help.
As regards mobility allowance, we had received by the end of 1975 something under 4,000 in-phase claims from the first age band—15 to 25—and payments are now being made. It is only since 1st January that we have been accepting claims from the remainder of the first planned age group—15 to 50—for payment from 1st April. It is, therefore, too early to say whether there is any real prospect of a shortfall either in this part of the programme or overall in the number of new beneficiaries we had estimated might eventually qualify for the new allowance.