§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, for each month since April 1988, what proportion of decisions on new and repeat family credit claims, respectively, resulted in an award of benefit; how many awards were current at the end of each month; arid what was the total caseload at the end of each month, including subsequent backdated awards.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 14 May 1990]: The available information is in the table.
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Percentage of family credit decisions resulting in award of benefit Family credit awards current at month end Family credit caseload at month end (including backdated awards) New Claims1 Renewal Claims1 Total Claims (thousands) (thousands) 1988 April — — 62.5 194 2243 May 215 261 June — — 68.4 236 282 July — — 68.2 243 283 August — — 69.1 256 284 September — — 69.4 242 281 October — — 71.5 248 282 November — — 72.1 261 290 December — — 70.3 255 285 1989 January — — 68.9 250 279 February — — 70.7 254 282 March — — 70.8 254 279 April 53.8 88.7 69.3 252 286 May 35.4 86.7 49.3 235 303 June 40.0 86.5 53.2 263 311 July 47.8 86.5 60.4 275 313 August 51.4 86.5 64.8 282 314 September 51.6 86.7 65.6 289 319 October 53.1 84.0 67.2 278 314 November 51.6 82.2 66.7 274 3304 December 47.2 81.4 62.1 263 299 1990 January 46.6 82.4 62.6 266 299 February 50.9 83.9 64.7 278 306 March 50.5 85.3 65.0 282 — April 52.2 88.3 68.2 281 — 1 Separate figures for new and renewal claims not available for the period up to March 1989. 2 Family credit caseload figures for April 1988 to February 1989 are estimated. 3 Family credit caseload figures for November 1989 to February 1990 are provisional.
§ Mr FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes have been made affecting the number of people entitled to family credit since April 1988; what was the estimated effect of each change; and what is the latest estimate of the number entitled.
§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard[holding answer 14 May 1990]: The latest information about the number of families eligible for family credit is derived from a special examination of the family expenditure survey returns for the period April to December 1988 which indicated that at that time about 500,000 employees were eligible for family credit. No information is available about the number of self-employed who are eligible.
The number of families eligible for family credit at any time depends not only on the levels of the family credit rates but also on levels of net earnings and on family composition which are changing constantly. The increases in the family credit rates in April 1989 and April 1990, which on both occasions were in excess of the inflation rate, and, to a lesser extent, the amendment to the family credit regulations in April 1990 which enable more people in casual or short-term work to qualify would, in isolation, have tended to increase the eligible population; on the other hand, changes to the national insurance contributions in April 1989, October 1989 and April 1990 and to the income tax provisions in April 1989 and April 1990, and general increases in earnings would, in isolation, have tended to reduce the eligible population. But because that population is changing constantly because of these and other factors, the effect of any one change cannot reliably be estimated in isolation. An updated estimate of the overall size of the eligible population (of employees) will be 210W possible only when information from the 1989 and, possibly, 1990 family expenditure surveys becomes available.