Lone Parent Families (Hansard, 7 February 2002)

§ Malcolm Wicks

The information available is in the table.

Following our reforms of the tax and benefit systems to help make work pay, we are seeing a steady reduction in the number of lone parents at the lower end of the income distribution. Results for 1999–2000 are the latest available. They will not include the full impact of the working families tax credit, further increases in allowances for children or improvements in the labour market that have occurred since; these will have increased the incomes of lone parent families.

Percentage of individuals living in lone-parent families in the bottom 30, 40 and 50 per cent, of the income distribution, including the self-employed is in the table.

Percentage of individuals below percentiles of the income distribution
	Bottom 30 per cent.	Bottom 40 per cent.	Bottom 50 per cent.
Income before housing costs
1994–95	60	74	84
1995–96	59	73	83
1996–97	65	78	86
1997–98	63	76	84
1998–99	63	77	86
1999–2000	61	75	84
Income after housing costs
1994–95	67	79	87
1995–96	67	78	85
1996–97	71	81	87
1997–98	69	79	85
1998–99	69	80	87
1999–2000	67	79	85

Notes:

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

2. The income measure used in HBAI is weekly net (disposable), equivalised household income (that is to say income that is adjusted to reflect the composition of the household).

3. The estimates are sample counts, which have been adjusted for non-response using multipurpose grossing factors that control for region, council tax band and a number of other demographic variables. Estimates are subject to both sampling error and to variability in non-response. All proportions are rounded to the nearest per cent.

4. The estimates are presented on both a Before Housing Costs income (BHC) and an After Housing Costs income (AHC) basis in line with HBAI conventions.

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