§ Mr. Andrew Smithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the current national average waiting times for (a) single payments under the supplementary benefit scheme, (b) new claims for supplementary benefit, (c) housing benefit, (d) family income supplement and (e) invalid care allowance.
§ Mr. PortilloI regret that information is not available on the average clearance time for decisions on single payment or housing benefit claims. Figures for the other benefits are shown in the table following. Supplementary benefit figures are for the four weeks ending 22 September. 883W Figures for family income supplement and invalid care allowance were obtained by a special count of claims up to 24 August.
Clearance time Supplementary Benefit 6 days Family Income Supplement 14 days Invalid Care Allowance 12.4 weeks
§ Mr. Andrew Smithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current estimate for unclaimed benefit nationally; and how this is divided between different benefits.
§ Mr. ScottFor the major contributory benefits (such as retirement pension, widow's benefit, unemployment benefit) and child benefit virtually all those eligible are thought to claim their entitlement. Eligibility is difficult to establish for some of the non-contributory benefits, particularly disability benefits such as mobility allowance and attendance allowance.
For one-parent benefit, the latest estimate suggests that in 1984 about £5 million out of a possible £125 million was unclaimed by single parents who stood to gain. Available estimates also suggest that in 1983, supplementary benefit recipients claimed £4,590 million whilst others who were probably eligible did not claim around £570 million. Housing benefit take-up estimates suggest that in 1984 entitled recipients claimed £3,820 million and that £500 million was unclaimed. Estimates for family income supplement spanning 1983 and 1984 suggest that, on an annual basis, employees in employment received £105 million whilst a further £55 million could have been claimed.
Strictly, it is inappropriate to add up the figures listed above because they relate to different years. However, a broad annual estimate based on these years suggests that roughly £8.5 billion in income-related benefits was claimed whilst about £1 billion was unclaimed.
§ Mr. Andrew Smithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make it his policy to list addresses of local advice centres on letters sent by his Department refusing benefit.
§ Mr. PortilloIt is not the Department's policy to list addresses of local advice centres on letters sent refusing benefits because we do not believe this is warranted. But we have decided that it is desirable for appellants to social security tribunals to be provided with the names and addresses of local agencies who may be willing to represent them at their appeal tribunal, as I announced in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) on 24 July 1987, at column710. Procedural arrangements to implement these changes are in hand.
§ Mr. Andrew Smithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many payments under regulation 30 of the supplementary benefit single payments regulations were made (a) in May 1980 and (b) in the most recent month for which figures are available.
§ Mr. PortilloSupplementary Benefits (Single Payments) Regulation 30 did not take effect until November 1980. For the four weeks ending 23 December 1980, the first four-week period during which the legislation was current, 157 payments were made under Regulation 30, amounting to £6,689.
884WFor the four weeks ending 22 September 1987, the most recent period for which figures are available, 4,139 payments were made, amounting to £387,099.