To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people he expects to change entitlement from income support to family credit as a result of the Income Support (General Amendment) Regulations, S.I., 1991, No. 1559.
We estimate that around 45,000 families on income support and working over 16 hours a week will become eligible for family credit in April 1992.In the longer term we expect the reduction in the qualifying hours rule to attract many more people who are on income support into work and on to family credit.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many and what proportion of pensioners claim income support.
There are about 1·4 million pensioners claiming income support, some 14 per cent. of all pensioners.
Source: 1990 Annual Statistical Inquiry.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the categories of income support claimants (a) who have to sign on as unemployed, be available for work and be actively seeking work and (b) who do not; and if he will give in table form the numbers and the percentages of total income support claimants in each case.
All claimants who are not specifically exempt from the availability for work and actively seeking work requirements must satisfy these conditions in order to be entitled to income support.The circumstances in which exemptions apply are set out in schedule 1 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987.Detailed information on the number of IS claimants taking advantage of each of the exemptions is not available. However, the following table gives a general breakdown of claimant categories, based on entitlement to IS premiums, as at May 1990.
| IS claimants by category | ||
| Category | Number | Percentage |
| Unemployed and required to sign | 1,063,053 | 25 |
| Not required to sign | ||
| In receipt of training allowance | 125,075 | 3 |
| Lone parents | 793,099 | 19 |
| In receipt of disability premium | 330,076 | 8 |
| Aged 60 or over | 1,674,714 | 40 |
| Other cases | 193,883 | 5 |
| Total | 4,179,900 | 100 |
Note:
The table is based on information contained in table 3.1 of the "IS Annual Enquiry" for May 1990 which categories IS claimants by premium entitlement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of how many additional pensioners in receipt of the retirement pension will be eligible for income support as a consequence of the income support level being higher than the retirement pension as a result of his uprating statement.
It is estimated that around 400,000 people may become eligible to claim income support following the proposed uprating of benefits in April 1992. The majority of these are likely to be benefit units where one or more members is aged 60 or over, although it is difficult to be precise about the proportion, which is extremely sensitive to assumptions used in the estimating model.
Source: Modelled using data drawn from the 1986–87–88 Family Expenditure Surveys at 1992 prices.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish in the Official Report the number of people on transitional protection in April 1991.
It is estimated that, immediately after the uprating in April 1991, 25,000 income support claimants were receiving a transitional addition.1 It is not possible to give an estimate of the number of income support claimants who were then receiving a boarder's protected sum. At that time housing benefit transitional protection payments were being made to 21,000 people.
1 Source: Based on modelling using date drawn from the May 1990 Annual Statistical Enquiry of Income Support recipients.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many women and how many men were in receipt of each of the premia paid with income support, listed separately, at the latest date for which information is available.
The information for May 1990, the latest date for which it is available, is as follows:
| Single | Couples | |||
| Premium | Male | Female | Male | Female |
| Higher pensioner | 86,946 | 490,815 | 102,324 | 8,186 |
| Enhanced pensioner | 38,039 | 238,755 | 35,418 | 1,792 |
| Pensioner | 90,767 | 307,342 | 94,929 | 2,987 |
| Severe disability | 10,485 | 50,713 | 1,095 | 100 |
| Disability | 108,127 | 145,774 | 68,585 | 8,491 |
| Lone parent | 34,119 | 759,180 | 199 | — |
| Disabled child | 698 | 10,683 | 5,995 | 399 |
| Family premium | 38,113 | 777,460 | 317,725 | 10,796 |
Notes:
(1) There is free choice of claimant between couples; either may claim. Classification by sex denotes the sex of the claimant, and does not identify which partner qualifies for the premium.
(2) Figures show the number of premiums in payment; a case may have more than one premium.
(3) The carer premium, introduced in October 1990, is not included.
(4) Source: Income Support Annual Statistical Enquiry 1990.
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effects on incentives to work of the Income Support (General Amendment) Regulations S.I., 1991, No. 1559 for people who receive income support for mortgage interest payments.
The change in the hours rule will mean that 30,000 families with children who are receiving income support and working between 16 and 24 hours a week—some of whom pay mortgage interest—will be better off by claiming family credit.There will be some people working between 16 and 24 hours a week and receiving income support at the time of the change who will either not be eligible to claim family credit or will not be better off by doing so. These will include some with mortgages. They can continue to claim income support and their work incentives will not therefore be affected.