§ Mr. BradleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of(a)the numbers of people who would be affected by, and (b) the cost of, extending the four-week extended payments of housing benefit to people who start work having been on (i) incapacity benefit, (ii) severe disablement allowance, (iii) income support disability premium and (iv) in receipt of incapacity benefit within 26 weeks of starting a job. [10141]
§ Mr. HealdIt is not possible to estimate the number of people who would be affected by, or the cost of extending, the four-week extended payments of housing benefit to those moving directly into work from incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance or income support disability826W premium. In 1996–97, the cost of extending the scheme to people in receipt of incapacity benefit within 26 weeks of starting a job is estimated to be £2 million1 with around 15,000 people affected.
Note:1Estimate applies only to people registering as unemployed after leaving the short term higher or long term rate of incapacity benefit.