§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made, following the recent appeal court judgment, of how many severely disabled people should have been receiving the premium between April 1988 and 1 December 1994, when the amending regulations were laid, but did not receive it; what steps are being taken to identify these people; and where the premium is now being awarded for the years in question, what policy he has with regard to suspending payment pending the appeal which he and the chief adjudication officer are seeking to bring to the House of Lords; and in how many cases a suspension has been imposed.
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe Court of Appeal decision given on 30 November 1994 resulted in entitlement to the severe266W disability premium being extended until the amendment regulation came into force on 2 December 1994. Consideration is still being given as to how the cases affected for these few days might be identified.
It is our practice to suspend payment in cases which are subject of an appeal to the courts, or in cases where benefit would be affected by the outcome of such an appeal. The number of cases in which payment of the severe disability premium has been suspended in these particular circumstances is not known.
§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people are currently in receipt of the severe disability premium as part of income support.
§ Mr. Roger EvansAs of February 1994, the latest date for which figures are available, the total number of claimants whose income support entitlement included the severe disability premium was 184,000.
Source:
Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry" February 1994—based on a 5 per cent. sample.Note:
The figure has been rounded to the nearest thousand.