asked the Secretary of State for Social Services under what circumstances payments of hire-purchase and other commitments are paid out of public moneys on behalf of people in receipt of social security; and what has been the total expenditure involved in each year since these payments started to be made.
The Supplementary Benefits Commission will assist those beneficiaries who came on to benefit with hire-purchase commitments for essential furniture and household equipment incurred previously, unless the beneficiary has sufficient capital to meet the outstanding debt and leave a margin of not less than £150. Help may be given by way of a weekly addition to benefit or by a single lump-sum payment. The commission's policy is set out in detail in paragraphs
| 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | ||||||
| Benefit costs | … | … | … | £2·3m. * | £9·2m. | £12·0m. | £12·2m. | ||
| Administration costs | … | … | … | £0·5m. | £0·6m. | £0·6m.† | £0·9m.‡ | ||
| Number of staff employed | … | … | … | § | 140 | 135 | 130 | ||
| Number of claims made | … | … | … | 158,733 | 304,131 | 167,966 | 148,021 | ||
| Number of awards made | … | … | … | 80,931 | 184,021 | 94,221 | 72,349 | ||
| * The FIS Scheme ran for less than half of this year. | |||||||||
| † Revised estimate. | |||||||||
| ‡ Provisional. | |||||||||
| § During the initial take-on period in 1971 approximately 200 staff were employed in the FIS Branch at Blackpool Central Office augmented by the use of casual staff in local offices. The work is now entirely centralised at Blackpool. | |||||||||