§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many income support claimants, according to the latest figures, are(a) single persons and (b) married 239W couples or living with partners, and in the case of (b), how many are childless, or where they have children, what is the average size of family.
§ Miss WiddecombeThere are 3.48 million single people in receipt of income support of which 810,000 have child dependents. There are 690,000 married couples or couples living together of which 330,000 have child dependents. The average number of children in couples' families is 2.22.
Note:
For the purposes of this reply, the term "child" is taken to include dependents aged 16–19.
Source: ASE May 1990.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will supply the numbers for each client group claiming income support for each of the years since its introduction in Nottingham, North constituency.
§ Miss WiddecombeI understand from Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency, that the information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what plans he has to monitor the effects of the Income Support (General Amendment) Regulations, S.I., 1991, No. 1559, on new claimants who are not covered by transitional protection and not entitled to family credit;
(2) how many people he estimates will lose entitlement to income support and not be entitled to family credit as a result of the Income Support (General Amendment) Regulations, S.I., 1991, No. 1559;
(3) how many claimants currently receiving income support will need transitional protection as a result of the Income Support (General Amendment) Regulations, S.I., 1991, No. 1559; and what he anticipates the total cost of that transitional protection will be;
(4) how much his Department will save on payments of income support as a result of the reduction from 24 to 16 hours in the number of hours claimants can work.
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 5 November 1991]: The reduction in the remunerative work rule from 24 to 16 hours in the income-related benefits comes into effect from April 1992. It is part of a package of measures which will result in many working families with children being better-off through easier access to family credit. The estimated cost of the change across the benefits is expected to be around £50 million in the first year reducing to about £25 million in the longer term.
Claimants who are working, or whose partners are working, between 16 and 24 hours a week and receiving income support at the point of change will not lose their entitlement to that benefit. Around 30,000 of them are likely to be families with children who will be entitled to more family credit than they would otherwise receive in income support. A similar number, about 30,000, will remain on income support under provisions giving them indefinite protection at an estimated cost of £30 million in the first year. It is expected that a further 35,000 parents, who are already working 16 hours or more and who are not yet on benefit, will come on to family credit in due course after April 1992, and that many more people will be attracted into work and on to family credit in the longer term and so become better off. However, because of likely behavioural changes it is not possible to forecast with any degree of accuracy what the net effect might be on claims 240W for income support made after April 1992. We will be carefully monitoring the effects of the change in the remunerative work rule in all the income-related benefits.