§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the November 1979 to November of the current year increase in average earnings; and what is the estimated saving in 1980–81 and in a full financial year of the break between the provision of benefits to long-term sick and disabled people and the rise in earnings.
§ Mr. PrenticeIt is not the practice to publish earnings forecasts.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost in a full financial year of making good the shortfall in benefits to disabled people arising from the Government's miscalculation of earnings in the 1979 uprating order.
§ Mr. PrenticeIf all long-term social security benefits had been increased in November 1979 in line with the increase in average earnings over the previous 12 months, the additional cost in a full year would have been about £195 million. I regret that no separate figure is available in respect of benefits for disabled people.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated gross saving in a full financial year of the change in the linking period designed to make qualifying for invalidity benefit more difficult.
§ Mrs. ChalkerAs I said in my reply—[Vol. 984, c.99–100]—to the hon. Member for Manchester, Moss Side (Mr. Morton) on 6 May, it was estimated that the changes introduced by clause 3 of the Social Security (No. 2) Bill which received Royal Assent on 7 July, would result in an overall saving of around £20 million in a full year. The changes would also result result in a saving in expenditure on supplementary benefit of around £20 million. The change in the linking period on which these figures were cal- 548W culated was the reduction from 13 to 6 weeks. The move to 8 weeks, introduced during the passage of the Bill, will reduce the overall savings somewhat. Detailed statistical work is being undertaken in this area, but the results are not yet available.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the estimated saving in a full financial year from the abolition of exceptional needs payments for disabled people who are not eligible for supplementary benefit;
(2) what will be the additional cost in a full financial year in real terms over 1979–80 and 1978–79, respectively, of the announced increase in help for disabled people with their heating costs;
(3) what is the saving, in a full financial year, of the reduction in the long-term rates of supplementary benefit as they apply to disabled people;
(4) what is the saving in a full financial year of the abolition of the additional supplementary benefit to pay for local authority home helps for disabled people.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe statistics kept of supplementary benefit claims do not distinguish the disabled, much less the varying degrees of disability found among all ages and groups of supplementary benefit claimants.
It follows that I cannot give a figure for the saving on exceptional needs payments to disabled people not eligible for supplementary benefit or for the ending from November of exceptional circumstances additions for local authority home helps. Since, however, total expenditure under these two heads is less than £¾ million a year, the saving in respect of disabled claimants will be less still. Similarly, I cannot give a figure for the saving, so far as the disabled are concerned, from increasing the long-term scale rate to the level of the national insurance pension rate, rather than by increasing it by the same cash amount as the increase of the pension rate.
Many who are disabled to a greater or less degree are now receiving heating additions of varying amounts, and will continue to receive the improved and simplified rates payable from November. Also from November a fail-safe mechanism will operate to ensure that, whatever the present rate of heating allowance 549W paid to them, those people on supplementary benefit receiving constant attendance allowance, attendance allowance, or mobility allowance, will receive the £3.40 rate of heating allowance. I cannot give a figure for the cost of the measures as they affect the disabled for the reason already stated. The fail-safe mechanism provides the disabled people concerned with additional requirements of £14 million a year, but the cost may be less than this depending on other resources of these beneficiaries.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the saving in a full financial year from the abolition of earnings-related supplements to sickness benefit payable to disabled people.
§ Mr. PrenticeI regret that this information is not available in the form requested. Abolition of the earnings-related supplement to sickness benefit will lead to a reduction in benefit expenditure from the National Insurance Fund of the order of £185 million in the financial year 1982–83. This saving cannot be apportioned between payments made to the disabled and those made to other sickness beneficiaries.
(a) (b) (c) Total number of claimants Claimants not receiving unemployment benefit* Claimants included in column (b) who are not receiving supplementary benefit Leicester 11,500 6,700 2,300 Leicestershire (including Leicester) 15,900 8,800 3,400 * Includes 1,600 and 2,100 claimants in Leicester and Leicestershire respectively whose claim for unemployment benefit had not been determined at the date of the count.