§ Mr. Peter Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the rate of unemployment benefit, plus family allowance and child benefit, for a family with one, two and four children as a percentage of (a) gross and (b) net average earnings at each uprating date since 1948; and if he will also provide the rates as an index with 1948 as 100.
§ Mrs. ChalkerInformation in relation to November 1980 and November 1981 is as follows:90W
November 1980 1981 £ £ Gross Earnings* ║114.06 ¶128.72 Net Earnings† ║84.51 ¶92.50 Benefit ‡ for married couple with: One child 52.09 52.90 two children 58.09 58.95 four children 70.09 71.05 Notes:
* Average earnings of male manual workers, derived from the October enquiry estimates by extrapolation using the Department of Employment's monthly indices of averge earnings; not including child benefit.
† Gross earnings, as in note *, not including child benefit, less tax and national insurance contributions at the non-contracted out rate.
‡ Standard rate unemployment benefit and dependency additions for the appropriate family size, plus child benefit and earnings-related supplement based on average male manual workers' earnings.
║ Provisional, pending results from the October 1981 enquiry. The figures differ slightly from the earlier provisional estimates used for the May 1981 edition of the Abstract of statistics for Index of Retail Prices, Average Earnings, Social Security Benefits and Contributions.
¶ Provisional, pending results from the October 1981 and October 1982 enquiries.
The other information requested is shown in table 6.2(c) of the "Abstract of Statistics for Index of Retail Prices, Average Earnings, Social Security Benefits and Contributions", a copy of which is in the Library, or can readily be derived from that table and the information shown above.