Benefit Claimants

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people received (a) incapacity benefit, (b) disability living allowance, (c) attendance allowance, (d) bereavement benefits, (e) carer's allowance, (f) maternity allowance and (g) severe disablement allowance in each of the last five years; how much was paid in each case in each year; and how much was spent on the administration of each in each year, broken down by (i) employee costs, (ii) IS/IT costs and (iii) other costs. (102180)

The available information is in the following tables.

*Number of claimants in receipt of the listed benefits at the dates shown*
	May 2002	May 2003	May 2004	May 2005	May 2006
Incapacity Benefit (IB)	2,471,140	2,494,890	2,508,770	2,490,850	2,449,990
Disability Living Allowance (DLA)	2,443,810	2,566,820	2,662,830	2,750,970	2,820,860
Attendance Allowance (AA)	1 ,504,440	1,527,990	1,570,340	1,605,710	1,646,890
Bereavement benefits (BB)	41,490	47,680	51,180	55,240	57,660
Carer's Allowance (CA)	516,080	589,330	680,470	733,750	785,270
Maternity Allowance (MA)	15,700	14,860	26,900	27,500	29,900
Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)	336,480	320,760	305,940	292,870	280,010
Notes: 1. IB, SDA,DLA, AA and BB Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. MA figures are rounded to the nearest 100. 3. AA, CA and DLA figures show all entitled cases—not just those in payment. 4. The sharp rise in MA figures from 2003 to 2004 is due to the change in MA rules. From April 2003 Maternity Allowance could be claimed for 26 weeks rather than the 18 weeks previously allowed. 5. 'Claimant' figures include all IB (including IB credits only cases). Source: For IB, SDA,DLA,AA and BB - DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data. For MA - DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples.

*Benefit expenditure on the listed benefits in Great Britain (real terms, 2006-07 prices)*
£ million
	2001-02 Outturn	2002-03 Outturn	2003-04 Outturn	2004-05 Outturn	2005-06 Estimated Outturn
Attendance Allowance	3,536	3,566	3,695	3,845	4,012
Disability Living Allowance	7,447	7,735	8,104	8,453	8,810
Carer's Allowance	1,055	1,089	1,126	1,153	1,172
Bereavement Benefit	1,244	1,193	1,076	965	905
Incapacity Benefit	7,638	7,412	7,187	6,967	6,810
Severe Disablement Allowance	1,177	1,050	1,000	960	919
Maternity Allowance	63	75	136	156	168
Source: DWP benefit expenditure tables.

The Department accounts for its administrative expenditure by strategic objective as set out in its public service agreements (PSA) and by individual requests for resources (RfRs) as set out in the departmental estimates and accounts, and not by benefit. Information on administrative expenditure by strategic objective is available in the annually published Departmental Report, copies of which are available in the Library.

Volume 456: debated on Monday 29 January 2007