To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the numbers of people who would be eligible for the disability working allowance if the capital limit was set at (a) £16,000 and (b) £8,000 broken down in each case by whether tariff income is taken into account for capital over (i) £8,000, (ii) £5,000 and (iii) £3,000.
We have estimated that about 50,000 people will be entitled to disability working allowance at any one time. The intention is that there should be taken into account at a rate of £1 for each £250 of capital above £3,000. However, given the small numbers involved and the uncertainty about the characteristics of this group it is not possible to estimate with confidence how this estimate would be affected if a different capital rule was applied.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what is his estimate of the total numbers of people who would be eligible for the disability allowance if the taper was set at (a) 50 per cent., (b) 40 per cent. or (c) 30 per cent.;(2) what would be the additional net cost to the Department of reducing the taper applied in the disability working allowance from the illustrative rate of 70 per cent. to
(a) 50 per cent., (b) 40 per cent. and (c) 30 per cent. broken down by (i) gross cost and (ii) offsetting savings in income-related benefits.
The effects of applying different tapers in disability working allowance cannot be predicted with confidence since the estimates include assumptions about behaviour changes and likely earnings levels among potential claimants who are not currently in work. Our best estimates are as follows:
| Gross cost £ million | Net cost1£ million | Caseload | |
| (a) 50 per cent, taper | 30 | 20 | 65,000 |
| (b) 40 per cent, taper | 50 | 30 | 75,000 |
| (c) 30 per cent, taper | 80 | 50 | 90,000 |
| 1 This is the cost after deducting the savings in other benefits. These include savings from people moving off incapacity benefits and savings on income-related benefits which may be payable in addition to DWA. | |||
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the cost of raising the capital limit for the purposes of the disability working allowance from £8,000 to £16,000.
I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Exeter (Mr. Hannam) on 10 December 1990 at col. 303–4.