To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of transferring all lone parents whose children are under seven years from income support to employment and support allowance would be in 2009-10. (270357)

[holding answer 23 April 2009]: There are approximately 460,000 lone parents on income support with a youngest child under the age of seven. Assuming that this remains constant:

the additional cost of paying all lone parents with a child under seven the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) work-related activity component (£25.50 per week) is estimated to be £610 million per annum;

the additional cost of paying all lone parents with a child under seven the ESA support component (£30.85 per week) is estimated to be £740 million per annum.

As this is not Government policy these costs assume that:

there is no assessment phase for lone parents, and the components will be paid for lone parents at the start of their claim;

the conditionality regime for lone parents on ESA would be the same as under income support for lone parents.

Notes:

1. Costs are rounded to the nearest £5 million, and reflect only the extra cost of paying the additional amount of benefit.

2. Costs depend upon caseloads. The average number of lone parents on income support over the last year was 460,000, but higher numbers would mean higher costs, and vice versa.