§ Mrs. Beckettasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the numbers of (a) men and (b) women who have had their social security benefits stopped in the last five years on the grounds that they were cohabiting.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe information requested is in the table:
467W
Number of decisions made under the "Living Together" Rules which resulted in the disallowance or withdrawal of Social Security Benefits 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Total I. Contributory Benefits Widows Benefits 1,449 1,361 1,309 1,472 1,283 6,874 Industrial Death Benefit/Non-contributory Invalidity Pension 119 126 127 182 150 704 One-parent Benefit 3,045 4,311 4,874 4,418 3,851 20,499 War Widows Pension 21 14 20 16 12 83 Child's special allowance Information not available Total 4,634 5,812 6,330 6,088 5,296 28,160 II. Supplementary Benefit—Benefit disallowed at time of claim 6,021 6,509 6,464 6,464 6,257 31,715 Benefit withdrawnn when in payment 7,287 6,984 6,514 6,299 6,239 33,323 Total 13,308 13,493 12,978 12,763 12,496 65,038 I and II Grand Total 17,942 19,305 19,308 18,851 17,792 93,198
Notes:
- 1. Separate figures for men and women are not available.
- 2. Figures for contributory benefits include data for both disallowance and withdrawal cases.
- 3. Figures for contributory benefits are at 31 December each year. Figures for supplementary benefit are at 30 November.
- 4. Figures include cases where two or more decisions were made in respect of the same person in any one year.