§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley, South (Mr. O'Hara) of 13 January 2000,Official Report, column 232W, what change there has been to the estimate that between 530,000 and 870,000 pensioner benefit units are entitled to but not receiving Income Support; and what are the reasons for the change. [118883]
§ Mr. Bayley[holding answer 17 April 2000]: The take-up statistics are published annually; the last edition, covering the period 1997–98, was published on 24 September 1999 and showed that there were between 530,000 and 870,000 pensioner entitled non-recipients (ENRs) of Income Support. The statistics are drawn from around 8,500 pensioner benefit units interviewed in the annual Family Resources Survey (FRS), which collects information on incomes and benefit receipt, and details of all income and savings.
As part of the programme of poorer pensioner research a sample of pensioners who appeared to be ENRs in the FRS were visited with a view to asking about barriers to claiming Income Support and about ways of encouraging them to claim. Respondents were first asked about changes in their financial circumstances since their original FRS interview. This suggests that the allowance for misreporting, made by the Department's statisticians when producing take-up statistics, merits review. Statisticians are reviewing this evidence and will incorporate it in the next set of statistics on take-up of income related benefits which are due to be published in the summer.