§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate how many people will lose housing benefit as a result of the announced reduction; and what will be the average loss to all tenants who suffer a reduction.
§ Dr. BoysonIt is not possible to aggregate the effects of all the proposed changes because of the complex interaction between them. However, we estimate that the effect of the higher tapers above the needs allowance combined with the higher minima will mean that approximately 2.2 million households not on supplementary benefit will lose benefit, including 1.1 million tenants who will lose an average of £1.43 a week. The other main change will be the higher non-dependant deductions, where housing benefit recipients need not lose financially because non-dependants will be expected to contribute rather more towards the cost of rent and rates.
§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what effect he estimates there will be on the poverty trap as a result of the reductions in housing benefit.
§ Dr. BoysonThe effects are complicated and will vary according to families' particular circumstances. Some families will gain less overall from additional earnings, but the numbers of those previously at risk of losing the major part of the benefit of additional earnings will fall.
§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the operation of the housing benefit scheme and with the co-ordination between his Department and the local authorities; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. BoysonAs was only to be expected, many local authorities and DHSS local offices experienced difficulties at first over the implementation of this major new scheme or over particular aspects of the new arrangements. We believe that most of the initial problems have now been resolved and we are making changes in a number of areas in consultation with the local authority associations to improve co-ordination and the day-to-day running of the scheme. These were recently announced by my right hon. Friend. In addition, the Department will shortly be issuing a circular to both local authorities and DHSS local offices giving extra guidance on liaison and on various points of difficulty.
§ Mr. Terry Davisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member 654W for Birmingham, Hodge Hill, on 24 November, Official Report, c. 285, what further evidence he has received of the number of outstanding cases of claimants for housing benefit supplement in (a) area 3 of Birmingham and (b) Birmingham as a whole; whether he will make a statement; and whether he remains satisfied that all outstanding cases will be dealt with within 10 days of 24 November.
§ Dr. BoysonThe 30 cases referred to in my reply on 24 November have all been cleared by the Department. —[Vol. 49, c.285.]
There are now an estimated 200 further cases in the whole of Birmingham, of which about 35 are in area 3, where DHSS local offices require further information before passing them to the housing department. I understand that there are also some cases yet to be identified by the housing department and passed to the department's local offices which will process all outstanding cases urgently. Revised entitlements will be backdated where appropriate.