To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to paragraph 4.16 in the Budget document, Ending child poverty: everybody’s business, what (a) high and (b) low estimates have been made for the financial value of the unemployment trap; and in what circumstances these transpire. (197766)

The Treasury has not undertaken any work to estimate the financial value of the ‘unemployment trap’. This is because the precise point at which an individual feels that moving into work is worthwhile will depend on their circumstances and preferences, including their attitude to claiming benefits and the nature of the job itself. The same gain to work may therefore be sufficient to encourage one individual into work where another would choose to remain out of work.