§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing for those below and those above pensionable age the estimated number of earned incomes subject to employers' national insurance contributions in
812W
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[pursuant to the reply, 28 July 1988, c. 522]: The available information is set out in the tables. I refer the hon. Member also to my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Clay) on 19 October at columns 897–98. The models used by this Department for housing benefit produce forecasts of case load rather than numbers entitled. Local authorities' estimated costs in administering rate rebates in 1988–89 are an integral part of their costs in administering the housing benefit scheme generally and are not identified separately. The Price Waterhouse study of community charge costs, commissioned by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment estimated that the additional cost of administering community charge benefits in 1990–91 would be £16.75 million (in 1988–89 prices). I understand, however, that Price Waterhouse believed that the information on which this figure was based was less reliable than the information used for its other estimates. The estimates of the additional non-administrative costs (in 1988–89 prices) of the community charge benefit scheme are as follows:
- a. through payment to non-householders: £235 million.
- b. through lowering taper from 20 to 15 per cent. (for householders only): £100 million.
steps of £1,000 between £15,000 and £25,000 and in £5,000 steps thereafter, showing single persons and one-earner and two-earner married couples together with the amount collected.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[pursuant to the reply, 27 July 1988, c. 362]: The information is as follows:
813W
Estimated number of earned incomes subject to employers' national insurance contributions by range of income earned
Persons under pensionable age
1988–89
United Kingdom
Married couples 2-earner Range of income lower limit £ pa Single persons Thousands Married couples 1-earner Thousands Husbands Thousands Wives Thousands 15,000 72 122 159 16 16,000 68 164 206 23 17,000 61 124 167 14 18,000 54 106 101 9 19,000 40 103 111 5 20,000 37 74 90 8 21,000 28 59 73 2 22,000 20 41 59 1 23,000 14 37 53 7 24,000 13 23 35 2 25,000 37 94 131 7 30,000 18 58 67 2 35,000 7 34 24 1 40,000 4 18 13 1 45,000 2 13 8 1 50,000 12 39 19 1 TOTAL 486 1,108 1,316 100 Similar information in respect of persons over pensionable age is not available. It is not possible to break down the amount collected by way of NIC into the ranges of earned income, but the following information is available:
Estimated gross employers' National Insurance contributions in 1988–89 (full year basis) in respect of: £ billion (i) All employees (ii) Employees earning more than £15,000 per year Single person 5.8 1.1 One earner couples 5.4 2.6 Two earner couples 8.2 3.2 Total 19.4 6.9 Gross contributions are notional contributions prior to deduction of contracted-out rebates (£3.15 billion for all employees and £1.25 billion for employees earning more than £15,000 per year).
These contributions include an estimated £100 million paid in respect of employees over pensionable age.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he wil bring up to date for the current financial year the information given in his answer of 10 December 1986,Official Report, column 204, to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby concerning the distribution of incomes and national insurance contributions, adding (a) the saving on the abolition of the reduced rate contribution and (b) the numbers contracted-in and contracted-out together with their contributions.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[pursuant to the reply, 27 July 1988, c. 362]: The information is as follows:
814W
Estimated number of total earned incomes by persons aged less than 65 by range of income: 1988–89 (thousands) United Kingdom Range of total earned income lower limit £ pa Single persons Married 1-earner Couples 2-earner 3,.000 664 182 35 4,000 710 217 44 5,000 872 139 33 6,000 908 256 49 7,000 740 211 75 8,000 594 349 94 9,000 585 362 129 10,000 826 793 417 12,000 710 740 919 15,000 296 618 1,414 20,000 112 235 838 25,000 79 255 744 Total 7,094 4,355 4,792 For the remaining information requested, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 21 October, at columns 1028–29.