§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the estimated number of persons in full-time work whose net income is below their equivalent supplementary benefit level for each year since 1970; and if he will also publish the numbers of persons who are dependent on these wage earners.
§ Mr. Deakins,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 3rd August 1978; Vol. 955, c. 695], gave the following information
I regret that the full information requested is not available. The following table, however, gives estimated numbers of workers—single persons and heads of families—who are under pension age, normally in full-time work or self-employed and have incomes below supplementary benefit level; and estimated numbers of persons dependent on the heads of families. These estimates, which are for December in each of the five years from 1972 to 1976, are subject to the qualifications set out in the notes below the table.
Year Estimated number of workers Estimated number of dependants of heads of families 1972 80,000 170,000 1973 90,000 170,000 1974 130,000 230,000 1975 210,000 420,000 1976 290,000 600,000 Notes
1. These estimates are based on an analysis by the Department of Health and Social Security of incomes and other information recorded by respondents to the family expenditure survey—FES. The estimates, which are subject to sampling error, have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.
306W2. The estimates relate only to the population living in private households; families and persons in institutions are not sampled in the FES.
3. The supplementary benefit level is taken as being the appropriate supplementary benefit scale rate(s). Income refers to next income less net housing costs less work expenses where appropriate.
4. The comparison is based on the worker's normal income in his normal employment. For example, where he had been off work due to sickness or unemployment for less than three months at the time of the survey, his income when at work was used in determining the level of income.
5. The 1976 estimates of workers with incomes below the supplementary benefit level are directly comparable with those for 1975 and 1974 but not with those for 1972 or 1973. In earlier years it had been assumed that the income distribution of the self-employed was the same as for other employees. Self-employed sample records were included in the analysis in 1974 for the first time and this has been repeated in 1975 and 1976. The figures on the self-employed are especially liable to error because their incomes recorded in the FES tend to be particularly low in relation to their recorded expenditure. This discrepancy is partly due to the incomes of the self-employed being recorded in many cases for a much earlier period than that to which their expenditure relates and the data in the tables for 1975 and 1976 have been adjusted to take account of this.