Jobseeker's Allowance (Hansard, 8 December 1999)

§ Ms Jowell

[holding answer 7 December 1999]Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. Jeremy Corbyn, dated 8 December 1999: As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply to your question about how many jobseekers have had their Jobseeker's Allowance stopped following interviews with Jobcentre staff. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. You will recall that I replied to you, along very similar lines, in my letter of 11 March. In that reply I said that the Employment Service conducts many different types of interviews with jobseekers, starting at the new claims stage and developing as unemployment lengthens. The new jobseeker's interview is important in establishing whether jobseekers meet the labour market conditions for receiving Jobseeker's Allowance and it is normally at this stage that a Jobseeker's Agreement is drawn up and jobseekers are made aware of their responsibilities in order to receive Jobseeker's Allowance. Thereafter, entitlement to the Allowance is reviewed at fortnightly interviews. We also use these opportunities to offer jobseekers further advice and help in their search for work. Jobseekers are also asked to attend a Restart interview at regular six monthly intervals at which they are offered further advice and information about employment and training opportunities. Beyond this, interviews may take place for a variety of other reasons. 589W Questions about a jobseeker's entitlement to Jobseeker's Allowance could arise at any of the interviews referred to above. In these instances there may be a reference to a Sector Decision Maker (formerly an Adjudication Officer) for a decision on benefit entitlement. Statistics on the number and types of decisions given by Employment Service Decision Makers on labour market questions are recorded in a quarterly summary—the 'Analysis of Sector Decision Making' (formerly known as the 'Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions'), a copy of which is held in the Library. As questions about a person's entitlement can arise during different types of interviews, it would be misleading to compare the total figures of disallowances with the total numbers of Employment Service interviews in any given period. Jobseeker's Allowance claims can be disallowed on labour market grounds or other grounds. However, some broad indication of volumes can be given by comparing the total number of Jobseeker's Allowance new claims with the number of awards of "nil benefits". This means simply the number of Jobseeker's Allowance new claims that, following assessment by the Benefits Agency who are responsible for Jobseeker's Allowance payment, result in no payment award. This could be for a wide variety of reasons ranging from inadequate contributions to failure to meet the labour market conditions for receipt of the Allowance. Since Jobseeker's Allowance was introduced in October 1996, the number of claims processed and the number of nil awards by operational year has been:

	Claims processed	Nil awards
7 October 1996 to 31 March 1997	1,280,960	164,460
1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998	2,966,185	470,047
1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999	2,833,977	508,828
1 April 1999 to 31 October 1999	1,640,806	292,697

These figures are based primarily on information held by the Jobseeker's Allowance Payments System. The figures for the period ending 31 March 1997 include a small number of claims held on the Income Support Computer System because they linked back to an earlier Income Support claim. I hope this is helpful.