WIREDGOV

Coverage: Great Britain
Theme: Social and Welfare

This series comprises people of working age who claim a key social security benefit and who receive an additional allowance for a child under 16 years of age or for a young adult dependant aged between 16 and 18 in full-time education. It has been developed from existing data on individual benefits to give a more coherent picture of claimants rather than claims. It is published on a regular basis via a National Statistics bulletin. Please see Notes to Editors for further details.

Main findings

At February 2003, 2.5 million children (19.0 per cent of all children in Great Britain) were living in families claiming a key benefit. This number of children in families claiming a key benefit was down 2.2 per cent from last year. While numbers classed as Unemployed fell by 6.6 per cent over this period, and those classed as Lone Parents" by 2.3 per cent, the number of children in the Sick / Disabled category fell by 0.2 per cent.

67 per cent of key benefit children were in families that were claiming Income Support only.

Although the number of single parent families with children less than 16 years of age fell from the previous year (as did the number where the claimant had a partner), a greater proportion of children were living in families where the claimant was single (72.7 per cent compared with 72.2 per cent a year earlier).

Family size

While 4.2 per cent of families claiming child benefit had four or more children at the end of February 2003, the figure was 8.5 per cent for families on key benefits. For the Unemployed group the figure was higher at 11.4 per cent.

Age Groups

Among the Sick / Disabled group, proportionally fewer children were under the age of five compared to other statistical groups. This reflects the older age profile of those claiming a sickness and/or disability benefit.

Duration of claim

Of those children in families on a key benefit, 65 per cent had been on benefit for at least two years, an increase from 63 per cent in February 2002. For the Sick / Disabled Group the figure was higher: 77 per cent at November 2002 compared to 76 per cent at February 2002. The percentage of children in families claiming benefit for under one year has remained at 22 per cent from February 2002 to February 2003.

Regions
The percentage of children living in families claiming a key benefit varied from 28 per cent in the London government office region down to 13 per cent in the South East and South West GORs.

Notes to editors

For the purposes of the statistical bulletin key benefits are defined as:

- Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
- Incapacity Benefit (IB)
- Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Income Support (IS)
- National Insurance Credits (through JSA or IB)

The Information and Analysis Directorate (IAD) of DWP have developed these analyses from existing samples of administrative data on the population of working age. This work was done primarily to help improve the relevance of DWP data to monitor the government's welfare reform agenda.

By matching data from individual 5 per cent samples, an estimate can be made of the number of people who were claiming at least one of the key benefits that are available to the population of working age people. The main exceptions are Widow's and Bereavement Benefits, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. Information on the characteristics of these claimants is also available, such as age, sex, geography, family type, client group, duration of claim and number of children. It is also possible to look at changes in the composition of this group in the benefits system over time, including those that affect individual claimants.

These analyses are based on information collected for the administration of benefits. This means that analyses of such things as family type and number of children are based only on those for whom some additional allowance of benefit is payable.

The bulletin includes appendices on Child Benefit, the Child Support Agency and Maternity Allowance.

Figures are published on a quarterly basis via the attached statistical bulletin. The definitive estimates of caseloads and characteristics of claimants of each individual benefit can be found in the separate publications and press releases that IAD also issues on behalf of DWP.

Tables 14 to 20 cover children in families on benefits and/or tax credits. Family Credit (FC) and Disability Working Allowance (DWA) ceased to be available to new claimants in October 1999 and were completely phased out by April 2000. They were replaced by Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) and Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) and are administered by Inland Revenue. Data on awards of WFTC and DPTC are supplied by, and used with agreement of, Inland Revenue.

£ is equivalent to pounds.

The Quarterly Bulletin on families with children on key benefits is a National Statistics publication and is produced to the high professional standards outlined in the National Statistics Code of Practice. National Statistics publications undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

Issued by:
Information Centre
IAD
Department for Work and Pensions
Telephone :
Public Enquiries : 020 7712 2171

DWP website :
www.dwp.gov.uk

Next Publication:
18th September 2003