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Council Tax Benefit

Volume 482: debated on Tuesday 4 November 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households were in receipt of council tax benefit in each year since 1985; and how much was spent on council tax benefit in each of those years. (229889)

Information on council tax benefit is available only from 1993-94 when it was introduced. The available information is in the following tables:

Council tax benefit expenditure and recipients, Great Britain

Expenditure (£ million)

Caseload (Thousand)

1993-94

1,940

5,450

1994-95

2,077

5,615

1995-96

2,189

5,690

1996-97

2,311

5,618

1997-98

2,395

5,479

1998-99

2,452

5,306

1999-2000

2,511

5,051

2000-01

2,575

4,761

2001-02

2,686

4,664

2002-03

2,834

4,625

2003-04

3,223

4,693

2004-05

3,557

4,915

2005-06

3,774

5,029

2006-07

3,944

5,080

2007-08

4,023

5,089

Notes: 1. The expenditure figures presented here reflect nominal costs for the whole of Great Britain. 2. They are total amounts paid to beneficiaries, irrespective of the source of funding, and include benefit spending reimbursed by DWP, and benefit spending financed from local authorities' general funds. 3. They reflect the latest benefit-by-benefit estimate of outturn, and not the amounts voted by Parliament. 4. Figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are estimated outturn and may change slightly once subsidy returns from all local authorities are audited. 5. Council tax benefit was introduced in April 1993. Source: Published expenditure tables to 2006-07, and estimated outturn for 2007-08.