§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will estimate the net weekly spending power of a man with a wife and two children aged eight and 11 years, whose gross earnings are (a) £120, (b) £130, (c) £140 and (d) £150 per week and whose rent and rates are £30 and £10, respectively (i) when he is working and (ii) if he was unemployed assuming that he and his wife were both earning £4 per week disregarded income and in each case were receiving all benefits to which they were entitled;
(2) if he will estimate the net weekly spending power of a man with a wife and two children aged eight and 11 years, whose gross earnings are (a) £80, (b) £90, (c) £100 and (d) £110 per week and whose rent and rates are £20 and £7, respectively (i) when he is working and (ii) if he is unemployed, assuming that he and his wife were both earning £4 per week disregarded income and in each case were receiving all benefits to which they were entitled.
§ Mr. NewtonWhere the man's gross earnings are(a) £80, (b) £90, (c) £100 and (d) £110 and where rent and rates were £20 and £7 a week, net weekly spending power would be (a) £88.19 (b) £86.04 (c) £85.25 and (d) £84.05. Where the man's gross earnings were (e) £120, (f) £130, (g) £140 and (h) £150 and rent and rates were £30 and £10 a week, net weekly spending power would be (e) £80.95, (f) £82.95, (g) £84.62 and (h) £87.82.
If the family's only income, apart from benefits, was from part-time earnings and both the man and his wife had 419W £4 of their part-time earnings disregarded for supplementary benefit purposes, the net weekly spending power would be £85.17.
Water rates of £1.65 are assumed to be included in the rates figures of £7 and £10. It is assumed that current benefit and national insurance contribution rates are in force and that fares to work are £5.95 a week. All other assumptions are as in the April 1985 tax/benefit model tables; a copy of which is in the Library.
It should be noted that the combinations of assumptions outlined in the questions are not typical. For example, among couples with children earning £110 or less a week less than 2 per cent. (about 30,000 families) pay rent and rates totalling £27 or more a week. The numbers of couples with children earning between £120 and £150 gross a week and living in rented accommodation and paying £40 a week or more in rent and rates is too small to estimate or quantify. Furthermore, the latest estimates show that only about 1.8 per cent. of married unemployed supplementary benefit claimants have part-time earnings. The proportion where both the claimant and spouse work is not known but must be less than 1.8 per cent.