HC Deb 12 February 1998 vol 306 cc392-3W
Mr. Lilley

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many households in receipt of family credit there are two adults; and in how many of those the benefit is paid to the man. [29189]

Mr. Keith Bradley

Of the 757,000 families currently in receipt of Family Credit, 406,000 are couples. The vast majority of couple families have a female recipient as there is a requirement for the female member of a couple to be the claimant. There are, however, occasional exceptions to this rule, for example, to cover mental incapacity.

Note:

All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

Source:

Family Credit 5 per cent. sample of all awards.

Mr. Lilley

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in how many households currently in receipt of family credit the principal earner is(a) a man and (b) a woman; and in each case what is the average amount of family credit paid per week. [29188]

Mr. Keith Bradley

The information requested is set out in the table.

Family credit by gender of main earner, and average weekly awards—August 1997
Gender of main earner Number of claimants Average weekly award (£)
Male 326,000 57.17
Female 431,000 60.41

Notes:

1.All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

2.Figures are based on the gender of the main earner.

Source:

Family Credit 5 per cent. sample of all awards.