§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what loan facilities are made available by his Department under present regulations; whether interest is charged; and if he has any plans to replace weekly additions and single payments with loans.
§ Mr. WhitneyPayments made under the Supplementary Benefit (Urgent Cases) Regulations are, in prescribed circumstances, recoverable. Details are published in Part 8 of the S manual, a copy of which is in the Library.
Single payments made under Supplementary Benefits (Single Payments) Regulation 21A—where a claimant is required to pay rent in advance on taking up a private tenancy—are recoverable from future housing benefit payments.
No interest is charged on any payments made under these regulations.
We are currently looking at provision for special expenses in the context of our review of social security, on which we expect to announce our conclusions shortly.