The most recent available information is in the table. It is important to note that these categories overlap; if the claimant is in receipt of more than one of the benefits listed, a child will appear in each relevant category. This means that the three categories cannot be added together to calculate the overall number and proportion of children living in households which are in receipt of these benefits. The figures also include children in households where people are both in receipt of benefit and working.
Dependent children aged 0-15 Proportion of dependent children aged 0-15 Parent/guardian claiming IS 1,805,575 16.2 Parent/guardian claiming IB 570,210 5.1 Parent/guardian claiming JSA 164,550 1.5 Notes: 1. All caseload figures supplied have been rounded to the nearest five. 2. Information is for a snapshot in time of claimants on the computer system, and will, therefore, exclude a very small number of cases that are held clerically. 3. Data represents children dependent on a parent or guardian who is claiming incapacity benefit, jobseekers allowance, or income support. 4. Due to the introduction of child tax credits in April 2003, information on child dependents is not reliably completed on the benefit computer system therefore children have been merged onto benefit claims from child benefit records with permission from HMRC. 5. If the claimant is in receipt of more than one of the benefits listed a child will appear in each relevant category. 6. The total number of children with child benefit aged 0-15 has been used as percentage denominators Source: DWP Information Directorate
The number and proportion of children whose parent or guardian is in receipt of one or more of these benefits is presented in the following table. The figures also include children in households where people are both in receipt of benefit and working. This data therefore differ from those used to measure progress against the public service agreement target for children in workless households, which is measured using the Labour Force survey. Since 1997 the proportion of children living in workless households in Great Britain has fallen from 18.7 per cent. to 16 per cent. in quarter 2 of 2007, which is a reduction of 405,000.
Dependent children aged 0-15 Proportion of dependent children aged 0-15 Parent/guardian claiming one or more of IS, IB and JSA 2,189,960 19.7 Notes: 1. All caseload figures supplied have been rounded to the nearest five. 2. Information is for a snapshot in time of claimants on the computer system, and will, therefore, exclude a very small number of cases that are held clerically. 3. Data represents children dependent on a parent or guardian who is claiming incapacity benefit, jobseekers allowance, or income support. 4. Due to the introduction of child tax credits in April 2003, information on child dependents is not reliably completed on the benefit computer system therefore children have been merged onto benefit claims from child benefit records with permission from HMRC. 5. The total number of children with child benefit aged 0-15 has been used as percentage denominators. Source: DWP Information Directorate