Our current estimate of the number of people potentially eligible to assistance from the digital switchover help scheme in the Whitehaven area is set out in the table.
Households eligible for support free of charge Number Households 75 plus, receiving pension credit 1,900 Disabled households, receiving pension credit/income support/income-based job seekers allowance 1,200 Total 3,100 Households eligible for support for the £40 charge Households 75 plus 2,600 Disabled households. 2,900 Total 5,500 Total households eligible for help 8,600 Notes: 1. Totals rounded to the nearest hundred. The figures are based on information from the whole Copeland constituency rather than the Whitehaven transmitter coverage area (which covers about 90 per cent. of households in the Copeland constituency) 2. Eligibility for help from the digital switchover help scheme will be by “benefit unit” rather than the whole household definition used by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office to forecast future household growth. 3. The definition of a “benefit unit” is a couple and any dependent children. It excludes adults deemed to be non-dependents who, if eligible, will be able to claim assistance from the help scheme in their own right.