HC Deb 20 June 1977 vol 933 cc373-4W
Miss Richardson

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many (a) one-parent and (b) two-parent families with dependent children have incomes below the supplementary benefit level.

Mr. Orme

It is estimated that at December 1975, the latest date for which information is available, there were in Great Britain about 50,000 one-parent and 130,000 two-parent families with dependent children and with family incomes below the supplementary benefit level.

The estimate is based on DHSS analysis of incomes and other information recorded by respondents to the Family Expenditure Survey for 1975 and is subject to sampling error. The estimate refers to the household population only. It is based on the family's usual income in the normal employment situation of the family head. For example, where the head of the family had been off work due to sickness or unemployment for less than three months at the time of the survey, the family's normal income when the head was at work was used in determining the level of income.

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