HC Deb 31 October 1995 vol 265 cc241-3W
Mr. Madden

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is the current position in respect of entitlement to income support for relatives admitted to the United Kingdom as sponsored immigrants where the sponsor is no longer able to support the immigrants through unemployment or other unexpected loss of income; [40442]

(2) if he will list for each of the last three years for which figures are available, the number of relatives who were admitted to the United Kingdom as sponsored immigrants following an undertaking by the sponsor that they would be fully maintained without recourse to public funds; in how many cases a written undertaking was required and why in other cases this was not so required; in respect of how many relatives there were claims made for income support under part V of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and what was the total cost of this to his Department; and how much money was recovered through the liable relative procedures. [40441]

Mr. Roger Evans

People given unlimited leave to enter or remain in the UK as dependent relatives, including sponsored immigrants, currently have the same entitlement to benefits as any UK citizen. However, where a sponsorship undertaking has been signed, the Department may take appropriate steps to recover from the sponsor any income support paid to the sponsored immigrant. There is no provision to reclaim any other benefits paid.

The immigration authorities inform the Benefits Agency of all agreements which have been undertaken. The number of formal undertakings received are set out in the table.

Number
1993 2,121
1994 1,925
1995 (January-June) 1,348

No information is recorded centrally of the number of sponsored immigrants who claim benefit or of how much money was recovered through the liable relative procedures.

The criteria for requiring written undertakings is a matter for the Home Office.

Mr. Brazier

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the percentage of pensioners drawing income support or supplementary benefit in each year since 1978–79. [40377]

Mr. Evans

The information is set out in the table.

Number of pensioners in receipt of supplementary benefit/income support 1978–79 to 1994
Year (Column A) Number of pensioners in receipt of supplementary benefit/income support (Column B) Number of pensioners in Great Britain Column (A) as a percentage of column (B)
1978 1,593,000 9,534,600 16.7
1979 1,599,000 9,559,700 16.7
1980 1,576,000 9,712,800 16.2
1981 1,624,000 9,810,156 16.6
1982 1,683,000 9,866,590 17.1
1983 1,549,000 9,882,301 15.7
1984 1,565,000 9,909,715 15.8
1985 10,021,410
1986 1,592,000 10,101,729 15.8
1987 1,610,000 10,172,700 15.9
1988 1,431,000 10,220,998 14.0
1989 1,314,000 10,278,565 12.8
1990 1,385,000 10,309,949 13.4
1991 1,272,000 10,355,887 12.3
1992 1,318,000 10,379,538 12.7
1993 1,426,000 10,391,426 13.7
1994 1,568,000 10,384,000 15.1

Notes:

1. Source: Supplementary Benefit/Income Support Statistics Annual and Quarterly Enquiries. Office of Population Censuses and Survey mid-year estimates.

2. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. Percentages rounded to one decimal place.

3. Income support replaced Supplementary Benefit in 1988.

4. Figures are not available for 1985.

5. Pensioners are defined as men over 65 and women over 60.

6. Figures in column A are for claimants only and do not include partners who may be of pensionable age.

Mr. Brazier

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what would be the estimated cost of ending the capital and notional income testing rules for(a) housing benefits and (b) income support for retired people while retaining unchanged the present tests for actual income. [40378]

Mr. Evans

The estimated cost of removing the lower and upper capital limits and tariff income rule for pensioners is £390 million in income support and £340 million in housing 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 available because the base data used excludes those cases.

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 May 1994 quarterly statistical enquiry for Income Support and the 1994 management information system dataset for Housing 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 figures are broad orders of magnitude as opposed to robust estimates.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what difficulties have been encountered in recovering income support paid to sponsored immigrants; what methods of overcoming such difficulties have been considered or adopted; and with what results; [40613]

(2) how the proposed changes in the benefit entitlement of sponsored immigrants will affect those whose sponsors are unable to support them because of a fall in their income due to sickness, unemployment or old age. [40615]

Mr. Evans

Sponsorship undertakings have been unenforceable and sponsors un-cooperative.

We referred proposals affecting the entitlement of sponsored immigrants and other persons from abroad to the Social Security Advisory Committee on 11 October. We expect to receive the committee's report and recommendations during December. These proposals are based on the premise that people whose leave to remain in the United Kingdom is on the understanding that they will not be maintained by the taxpayer should be kept to that understanding.