§ Lord Rixasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether a correlation has been made in government research between an individual's level of education and the likelihood of them claiming social security benefits to which they may be entitled. [HL3714]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)The department has not looked at the relationship between levels of education and take-up directly but qualitative research has indicated that many customers have difficulty completing claim forms. In addition, analysis of the 1996 British Adult Literacy survey shows that a large number of benefit recipients have low literacy skills (see DSS research yearbook 1997–98—Chapter 4).