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Social Security Benefits

Volume 477: debated on Monday 16 June 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of (a) male and (b) female pensioners in each region who will be eligible for means-tested benefits in each year until 2050; (195735)

(2) what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of pensioners who will have marginal deduction rates of (a) zero to 10 per cent., (b) 11 to 20 per cent., (c) 21 to 30 per cent., (d) 31 to 40 per cent., (e) 41 to 50 per cent., (f) 51 to 60 per cent., (g) 61 to 70 per cent., (h) 71 to 80 per cent., (i) 81 to 90 per cent. and (j) 91 to 100 per cent. in each year until 2050.

The information is not available in the format requested.

Measures to improve the coverage and generosity of the state pension together with reform of the savings credit are projected to reduce the proportion of pensioner households entitled to income related benefits over the long term.

Updated projections of the proportion of pensioner households eligible to income related benefits have been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people who will flow on to the employment and support allowance in each of the next five years he estimates will be claiming the benefit by the (a) income channel and (b) contribution channel; (209936)

(2) how many people he estimates will flow on to (a) the support channel and (b) the work channel of the employment and support allowance in each of the next five years;

(3) how many people he estimates will flow on to the work channel of the employment and support allowance and be claiming the benefit by (a) the income channel and (b) the contribution channel in the next five years;

(4) how many people he expects will flow onto the support channel of the employment and support allowance and be claiming the benefit by (a) the income channel and (b) the contribution channel.

[holding answers 10 June and 11 June 2008]: We expect that 10 per cent. of new employment and support allowance customers will flow into the support group, and that 90 per cent of new employment and support allowance customers will flow into the work related activity group.

Information is available up to the end of the Government's spending plan period, to 2010-11. The information is summarised in the following table.

Employment and support allowance: Estimated benefit onflows

Thousand

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

Employment and support allowance

280

580

600

Of which:

Income-based only

140

290

300

Contributory only

130

265

275

Both

10

25

25

Work related activity group

250

520

540

Of which:

Income-based only

125

260

270

Contributory only

115

240

250

Both

10

25

25

Support group

30

60

60

Of which:

Income-based only

15

30

30

Contributory only

15

25

30

Both

Negligible

5

5

Notes:

1. Figures for 2008-09 relate to six months only; ESA will be introduced in October 2008.

2. Figures are rounded to the nearest five thousand. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

3. Figures are consistent with benefit expenditure tables available on the DWP website through the following link:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp