To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of council tax benefit claimants of working age who have capital assets of between £6,000 and £16,000; and if he will make a statement. (272662)

As at May 2004, the most recent available information, there were 9,000 council tax benefit recipients under 60 years of age with capital assets between £6,000 and £16,000 in Great Britain.

Notes:

1. The figures are based on a 1 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.

2. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.

3. The figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

4. Council tax benefit figures exclude any single adult rebate cases.

5. From February 2007, DWP has been collecting more detailed HB/CTB data electronically from local authorities. Over time this will improve the accuracy, timeliness and level of detail available in the published statistics. However, until the new data have been fully quality assured to National Statistics standards, the most recent detailed statistics available are for May 2004.

Source:

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Annual 1 per cent. sample taken in May 2004.