HC Deb 20 January 1999 vol 323 cc468-9W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate, on the basis of the Family Resources Survey, and pooling years of data, the number of benefit units which contain at least one employee whose net earnings is in each £5,000 band up to £30,000 and above, indicating separately the figures for (i) lone parent families, (ii) two parent families with one child, (iii) two parent families with two children and (iv) two parent families with three or more children, providing within each category separate figures for those in(a) firms of up to 25 employees and (b) firms of 25 employees or more. [64780]

Angela Eagle

The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is in the tables.

Number of two parent family benefit units with at least one employee by number of dependent children and number of employees in the local unit of the firm by which they are employed (excluding those benefit units where at least one member is either full or part-time self-employed—Average of period 1994–95 to 1996–97
Thousand
Number of benefit units by net earnings bands
Number of dependent children Number of employees in local unit 0–5 5–10 10–15 15–20 20–25 25–30 30+
One 1–24 30 50 90 100 65 35 40
25+ 20 80 180 265 205 130 180
Two 1–24 30 50 95 105 60 40 50
25+ 25 65 210 300 270 150 225
Three or more 1–24 20 25 40 35 20 15 15
25+ 15 40 80 100 70 50 60

Number of lone parent family benefit units where the head is an employee by the number of employees in the local unit of the firm by which they are employed (excluding those benefit units where at least one member is either full or part-time self-employed Average of period 1994–95 to 1996–97
Thousand
Number of benefit units by net earnings bands
Number of employees in local unit 0–5 5–10 10–15 15–20 21–24 25–30 30+
1–24 130 65 30 10 * * *
25+ 90 110 70 30 10 * *

Notes:

1. All figures are estimates and are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data set based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The FRS does not include Northern Ireland.

2. Only benefit units with at least one employee were considered when answering this question. Benefit units containing at least one person who was either fully or part-time self-employed were excluded.

3. The income bands in the tables relate to the total net earnings of the benefit unit as opposed to the individual.

4. The definition of employment used is: "whether the individual was employed and at work, or employed but away from work, in the last week".

5. Where both members of a couple are employed, the value taken for the number of employees in the local unit of the firm was that for the head of the benefit unit, unless they were not working, in which case that for the spouse was assumed instead.

6. The concept of the number of employees in the local unit of a firm used in answering this question is different from the usual definition of a small firm (ie the number of employees of the enterprise as a whole, across all local units) which is not available from the FRS. Given this fact, in conjunction with the use of the net earnings (as defined for HBAI) rather than assessable income (as defined for the proposed Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC)), it is advised that it would not be considered appropriate to use the data supplied in any analysis of the administration of the WFTC. The exclusion of all benefit units containing the self-employed would also have a bearing on this issue.

7. The figures given are rounded to the nearest 5,000 benefit units. The entries marked "*" have values of less than 5,000.

8. To provide more robust estimates at such a fine level of detail, the HBAI data set was pooled over three financial years, from April 1994—March 1997.

9. As the FRS does not actually collect annual earnings data from individuals, this figure was estimated from weekly earnings data. As the earnings data collected relates solely to the last pay-cheque received, it will not take into account any bonuses, pay-rises or changes of employment that may take/have taken place at other points in the year.

10. The earnings bands were taken to be in April 1998 prices, and all earnings data from each of the financial years used was uprated accordingly, to April 1998 prices, using the Retail Prices Index (RPI).

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