§ Mr. Kenneth Clarkeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claims for interim child benefit have now been received; how many have been approved; and what rate of take-up of the new benefit this represents.
§ Mr. MeacherUp to 24th February 101,236 claims had been received; by then 56,862 had been approved and 1,700 disallowed. It is estimated that about 250,000 one-parent families stand to gain from making a claim. This would indicate a take up rate so far, of the order of 40 per cent.
§ Mr. Georgeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what will be (a) the gross cost of child interim benefit, (b) the amount 'of the benefit returned through tax, (c) the amount of the benefit returned indirectly through reduced or lost rent and/or rent rebates,(d) the amount of the benefit returned indirectly through lost entitlement to free school meals, (e) the amount of the benefit returned through any other lost benefits, (f) the net cost of child interim benefit after the amounts in (b) to (e) above have been subtracted, and (g) the estimated amount of the benefit returned through reduced or lost FIS when child interim benefit is counted for FIS calculations.
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§ Mr. O'MalleyIf claims for child interim benefit are made by all lone parents other than those who, for example, are already receiving widowed mothers' allowance or supplementary benefit, the gross cost will be about £20 million. The income tax payable on the benefit and clawback would amount to about £10 million. It is not possible to estimate the effect of child interim benefit on entitlement to rent and rate rebates or allowances or on entitlement to free school meals, all of which depend on various factors. It is estimated that there will be savings of about £1 million on children's increases of social security benefits, and that the cost of family income supplement will be reduced by a similar sum.