[holding answer 9 September 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to respond to your question asking what estimate her Department has made of the average unit cost of (a) job broking and (b) benefit processing for (i) incapacity benefit, (ii) employment and support allowance and (c) jobseeker's allowance in each year since 2004-05. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
It is not possible to provide an average unit cost for job broking as not all job broking costs have a measurable volume. The requested benefit processing unit costs for (i) incapacity benefit (IB) is in the table below. ESA started in October 2008 and therefore the data for ESA in 2008-9 is not included as the data is not available for the full year.
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 IB claims processing 42 41 38 32 30
For jobseeker's allowance, the benefit processing unit costs in each year were:
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Jobseekers allowance claims processing 22 21 20 17 13 Source: DWP/Jobcentre Plus Finance.
[holding answer 14 September 2009]: The available information is in the following tables.
England North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency July 1997 1,276,655 2,077 1998 1,089,472 1,726 1999 1,007,767 1,636 2000 866,005 1,173 2001 762,269 1,002 2002 764,590 1,079 2003 760,488 1,032 2004 677,096 1,056 2005 711,788 1,314 2006 796,354 1,343 2007 713,363 1,270 2008 722,897 1,410 2009 1,311,098 2,575 Notes: 1. Data are un-rounded. 2. Data are published at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk 3. Jobseeker’s allowance was introduced from October 1996. Source: 100 per cent. count of claimants of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus Computer Systems.
England North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency February 1996 2,226,700 3,600 1997 2,228,100 3,700 1998 2,214,600 3,600 1999 2,168,700 3,500 2000 2,156,060 3,850 2001 2,214,930 4,020 2002 2,217,260 4,080 2003 2,247,980 4,230 2004 2,256,210 4,340 2005 2,246,460 4,450 2006 2,209,710 4,600 2007 2,180,870 4,670 2008 2,151,910 4,700 2009 2,002,400 4,490 Notes: 1. Incapacity benefit replaced sickness benefit and invalidity benefit from April 1995. 2. Figures for February 1996 to February 1999 are based on 5 per cent. data and have been uprated in line with 100 per cent. WPLS totals. 3. Data for 1996 to 1999 have been rounded to the nearest 100. 4. February 2000 to February 2009 are based on 100 per cent. WPLS data. 5. Data for 2000 to 2009 have been rounded to the nearest 10. 6. These data do not include claimants of employment and support allowance introduced from October 2008. 7. Data from 2000 are published at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk 8. Includes incapacity benefit credits only cases. Source: DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. sample data. DWP Information Directorate 100 per cent. WPLS.
England North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency February 1997 1,887,500 2,900 1998 1,868,500 2,800 1999 1,845,500 2,800 2000 1,877,790 3,010 2001 1,890,930 3,090 2002 1,876,410 3,140 2003 1,854,670 3,090 2004 1,848,290 3,080 2005 1,798,210 3,080 2006 1,775,950 3,140 2007 1,780,320 3,330 2008 1,760,260 3,340 2009 1,713,480 3,340 Notes: 1. From October 1996 jobseeker’s allowance replaced income support for unemployed people, therefore for consistency income support figures prior to this date have not been included. 2. Figures for February 1997 to February 1999 are based on 5 per cent. data and have been uprated in line with 100 per cent. WPLS totals. 3. Data for 1997 to 1999 have been rounded to the nearest 100. 4. February 2000 to February 2009 are based on 100 per cent. WPLS data. 5. Data for 2000 to 2009 have been rounded to the nearest 10. 6. Due to the introduction of pension credit in October 2003, it is standard practice to exclude minimum income guarantee claimants in all figures produced. 7. Data from 2000 are published at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk Source: DWP Information Directorate 5 per cent. sample data. DWP Information Directorate 100 per cent. WPLS.
[holding answer 19 October 2009]: The Department uses 0800 numbers for its main benefit claims, and not 0845 numbers, and the Department's policy is that calls to 0800 numbers should be free. The Department has not therefore estimated the costs of changing its 0800 main benefits claims numbers to 0300 numbers.
The available information is given in the following table.
Five to nine years 10 to 11 years 12 years and over All 655,710 117,600 738,330 Incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance 501,310 94,040 649,000 Jobseeker's allowance 3,250 490 390 Other income support 151,150 23,070 112,020 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. For the purposes of presenting the statistics in this table, benefits are arranged hierarchically and claimants are assigned to the topmost benefit which they receive: (i) Jobseeker’s Allowance—Claimant of Jobseeker’s Allowance. (ii) Incapacity Benefits—Claimant of either Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance. (iii) Other Income Support—Income support claimants who are not also in receipt of Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance. Source: DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study
The Department regularly undertakes research on customer behaviour and demographic trends to inform its policy making. The Department has not carried out research as to how Living Apart Together would affect the number of benefit claims, amounts of benefits, or work incentives.