§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list, for each of the past 10 years, the number of persons gainfully employed and the number of persons in receipt of State benefit whether due to age, sickness, unemployment or any other cause.
§ Mr. GoldingInformation in the form requested is not available.
The following table gives estimates of the number of people gainfully employed, together with estimates of the number of payments of State benefits in a week, for each of the 10 years to 1977. Some of these payments are made to people who are gainfully employed.
Because an individual may receive more than one benefit at the same time, a count of the separate payments made will overestimate the numbers receiving benefits.
547W
Great Britian (thousands) Number of benefit paid in a week Number of people gainfully employed (1) Unemployment benefit Family allowance or child benefit Widows' benefit Retirement pension War pension Supplementary benefit Sickness or invalidity benefit Disablement benefit Noncontributory invalidity pension Other benefits (5) Total (2) Month of count June Nov. Dec. Nov. (3) Nov. (3) Dec. Dec. (4) June Sept. June 1968 … … 24,836 294 4,124 560 6,973 557 2,640 934 205 * 202 16,500 1969 … … 24,852 279 4,189 551 7,170 539 2,680 923 208 * 198 16,500 1970 … … 24,745 302 4,249 542 7,363 519 2,740 932 207 * 188 17,500 1971 … … 24,399 459 4,323 564 7,515 502 2,910 857 205 * 250 17,500 1972 … … 24,390 352 4,362 556 7,668 481 2,910 870 204 * 346 17,500 1973 … … 24,970 197 4,453 542 7,824 464 2,670 885 202 * 416 17,500 1974 … … 25,060 259 4,463 528 7,972 447 2,680 899 201 * 421 18,000 1975 … … 24,929 525 4,458 509 8,149 430 2,790 855 201 * 441 18,500 1976 … … 24,761(6) 587 4,445 486 8,337 413 2,940 868 202 90 545 19,000 1977 … … 24,877(6) 561 7,135(7) 470 8,531 397 2,990 957 201(8) 103 621 22,000 Notes: (1) Employees in employment, self-employed (with or without employees) and members of Her Majesty's Forces. (2) Because counts of the different benefits are not all made at the same time of the year, the total is shown to the nearest half million. (3) Count was in December prior to 1972. (4) Count was in November prior to 1975. (5) Other benefits comprise maternity allowance, injury benefit, guardian's allowance (with effect from 1977), child's special allowance, family income supplement (with effect from 1971), industrial death benefit, workmen's compensation, pneumoconiosis and byssinosis, benefit scheme, attendance allowance (with effect from 1972), and mobility allowance (with effect from 1976). The counts for these benefits are made in different months. No estimates are available for non-contributory invalidity pension and invalid care allowance both of which were introduced in 1977. (6) Self-employed estimates are assumed unchanged from the 1975 figure. The estimate of employees in employment for 1977 is provisional. (7) The large increase in the figure for 1977 is due mainly to the introduction in April 1977 of child benefit, which included payment for one-child families for the first time. (8) Estimate. * Benefit not in existence.