§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of a married couple with two children where the husband was unemployed for the full year 1982–83, but was previously earning average manual earnings, and taking account of (i) losses in income tax, national insurance and national insurance surcharge and (ii) costs of social security benefits assuming the family receive average rent and rate rebates;
(2) if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of a single person who was unemployed for the full year 1982–83, but was previously earning average manual earnings, and taking account of (i) losses in income tax, national insurance and national insurance surcharge and (ii) costs of social security benefits assuming the individual receives average rent and rate rebates.
§ Mr. BrittanIf full entitlement to supplementary benefit is assumed, a married couple with one child over 11 and one under five would have received benefit payments totalling about £3,700 in 1982–83, assuming average council rent and rates. The comparable figure for a single person was about £2,000, again assuming that he was a householder. These figures are not typical of the unemployed as a whole. It is estimated that on average benefit payments would have increased by about £1,700 for each extra person unemployed in 1982–83.
Estimates of lost taxes are inevitably hypothetical since they depend on assumptions about conditions in the economy had unemployment in 1982–83 been different from what it actually was.