HC Deb 02 November 1995 vol 265 c381W
Mr. Brazier

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what will be the estimated cost of ending the capital and notional income testing rules for council tax benefit for retired people while retaining unchnged the present tests for actual income. [41035]

Mr. Roger Evans

The estimated cost of removing the lower and upper capital limits and the tariff income rule for pensioners is £340 million in council tax benefit. This assumes that actual income from capital would be taken into account.

Notes:

1. Although the question refers to retired people, it has been interpreted to refer to people over 60 years of age and living in the community. The cost for those in residential or nursing care is not applicable, as these are exempt from council tax.

2. Estimates are rounded to the nearest £10 million.

3. The estimate is based on data from the 1991, 1992 and 1993 Family Expenditure Survey, adjusted to be consistent with reported data from the 1994 HBMIS dataset for council tax benefit.

4. All figures are uprated to 1995–96 prices and benefit levels.

5. Given the tenuous nature of the data and the methodology used to arrive at this estimate, the figure are broad order of magnitude as opposed to robust estimates.