Benefit Take-up Rates (Hansard, 14 February 1996)

§ Mr. Roger Evans

The administration of benefits is a matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 13 February 1996: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what estimate he has made of the take-up rates of (a) Severe Disability Premium (SDP), (b) Supplementary Benefit, (c) Social Fund (SF), (d) Invalid Care Allowance, (e) Disability Living Allowance (attendance/care), (f) Disability Living Allowance (mobility), (g) Income Support (IS) and (h) the total benefits in (i) Warrington and (ii) the North West region in the last 12 months. The information is not available in the format requested. Statistics about the number of customers receiving SDP are not available because they are not routinely collected. Supplementary Benefit was replaced by IS in April 1988. Table A shows the latest available information for DLA. The North West Region is the area covered by Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Lancashire. The Disability Living Allowance figures are for all customers who have a Warrington postcode. Table B show the latest available information for Social Fund and Income Support. However, information for these benefits is not collected by region and the figures supplied are, therefore, based on Districts involved at the footnote of the table. The Benefits Agency's North Cheshire District covers the Warrington area. 656W The Invalid Care Allowance information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. I hope you find this reply helpful.

Table A: Disability Living Allowance (DLA) awards for the year to November 1995
	North-west region¹	Warrington²
Award of DLA mobility	40,000	2,000
Award of DLA care	41,000	2,000
Figures are provisional and subject to change.
¹ Statistics are collated by Disability Benefits Centres and the Disability Benefit Unit at Fylde. The North West region includes the Bootle and Manchester Disability Centres.
² DLA customers with a Warrington postcode.

These figures have been supplied by the Department of Social Security's analytical services division. They have been rounded and are based on a 5 per cent. sample.

Table B: Social fund applications and income support successful claims for the year to December 1995
	BA Districts listed below¹	North Cheshire District Office²
Total SF applications	645,079	32,794
Total IS claims	438,012	21,996
Figures are provisional and subject to change.
¹ Statistics are collated at Area Directorate and District Office level and not by region. The figures given are collated from information provided by the following districts:
Liverpool Bootle, Liverpool Kirkby, Liverpool Breckfield, Liverpool Edge Hill, Liverpool Garston, St. Helens, Birkenhead North, Chester, Stockport South, Hyde, Manchester Wythenshawe, Warrington, Manchester Longsight, Salford South, Manchester Sale, Oldham, Manchester Bishopgate, Blackburn, Blackpool North, Bolton, Burnley, Lancaster, Preston, Bury and Wigan.
² Includes the BA offices of Warrington and Widnes.

These figures have been supplied by the Benefits Agency's central data unit, are provisional and may be subject to change.