HC Deb 02 November 1994 vol 248 cc1134-5W
Mr. Dewar

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give his best estimate of the number of claimants who will be worse off at any one time as a result of the introduction of the job seeker's allowance and the reduction in the contributory benefit from 12 months to six months

Mr. Roger Evans

It is estimated that at any one time 250,000 unemployed claimants would no longer be entitled to an adult dependency increase, or would receive the lower personal allowance for claimants under 25, or would receive no or less benefit after six months. However, claimants in those groups may benefit from other measures outlined in the White Paper. A further group of claimants could either gain or lose a small amount depending on whether the personal rate of unemployment benefit would have been higher or lower than the personal allowance of income support in 1996–97 for claimants aged 25 or over. Since the uprating factors will depend on the increase in the Rossi and RPI indices in the year to September 1995, it is not possible to provide firm estimates of the effects at this stage.

Notes:

  1. 1. Estimates rounded to nearest 10,000 cases.
  2. 2. Estimates assume:
    1. a) 2.55 million unemployed claimants;
    2. b) 600,000 Unemployment benefit claimants.
  3. 3. Losers are estimated using the Policy simulation Model with 1990/91/92 Family Expenditure Survey data and 1994 Unemployment Benefit Statistics.