§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the median total weekly income of those current recipients of Incapacity Benefit or Invalidity Benefit below state pension age who have private pension income in excess of £50 per week. [94698]
§ Mr. BayleyAround 80 per cent. of current recipients of Incapacity Benefit below State pension age either have no private pension or a pension of less than £50 a week.
The median weekly household income before housing costs of current recipients of Incapacity Benefit below State pension age with income from a private pension in excess of £50 a week is £309 a week. The average weekly household income for this group is £343 a week. The average is higher than the median because a significant proportion have high pension incomes.
Notes:
1. Incapacity Benefit replaced Sickness Benefit and Invalidity Benefit in April 1995. All existing recipients at that date became Incapacity Benefit recipients.
2. Weekly income is unequivalised income net of tax and other deductions of the household that the benefit recipient lives in.
3. All figures are in April 1999 prices and are rounded to the nearest £.
4. Figures are estimates from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset based on the 1997–98 Family Resources Survey (FRS) for Great Britain.
5. Private pensions are defined as occupational and personal pensions.