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1 July 2005

SOCIAL SECURITY STATISTICS SUMMARY PUBLISHED

The fifth edition of the ‘Northern Ireland Summary of Social Security Statistics’ was published by the Department for Social Development today.

It provides information on claimants of all social security benefits and looks at individual benefit statistics. Also included are data from the ‘Northern Ireland Client Group Analysis’, which looks at three client groups. These are persons of working age, families with children and persons of pensionable age.

Some of the main findings include:

  • In August 2004, 21% (221,760) of the working age population claimed a key benefit (21% of men and 21% of women). The proportion of the working age population claiming at least one key benefit was 21% in Northern Ireland compared to 13% in England at August 2004. In August 2004, 32% (71,980) of claimants of key benefits had children and/or young dependants.
  • In August 2004, 139,240 children were living in families claiming a key benefit. This figure has fallen by 5% (7,640) from August 2001. The number of children in the unemployed group fell by 34% between August 2001 and August 2004, whilst the number in the lone parents group fell by 16%. The number in the sick and disabled group rose by 10%.
  • In August 2004 about 96% (259,516) of people over state pension age claimed a key benefit - an increase of 2% (5,449) since August 2001. Of these, 35% were men and 65% were women.
  • Between August 2003 and August 2004 the Income Support caseload has decreased by approximately 44%, and stands at 101,320 at August 2004. This fall in the caseload is mainly due to claimants aged 60 and over transferring to Pension Credit on 6 October 2003.
  • In August 2004 the Pension Credit caseload was 89,820. In Northern Ireland 54% (48,560) of Pension Credit claimants were receiving Guarantee Credit & Savings Credit; compared to 50% (1,298,100) of claimants in Great Britain.
  • The overall number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants fell by over five thousand (5,350), between August 2003 and August 2004, to 31,650. The majority of this reduction was accounted for by recipients of income-based benefit, a fall of 3,310 in the year to August 2004.
  • At the end of August 2004 there were 109,616 Incapacity Benefit claimants, down 1,026 (1%) on the previous year. Of these 70,608 were in receipt of the benefit, a 2.2% decrease on the August 2003 figure. The corresponding figure for Great Britain as a whole was down 2% on the previous year.
  • Claimants of Severe Disablement Allowance have fallen from 13,727 in August 2003 to 13,233 in August 2004, a decrease of 4%.
  • The number of people claiming Attendance Allowance stood at 65,355 in August 2004, a decrease of 150 (0.2%) on the August 2003 figure. Of those claiming, 33% were male and 67% were female.
  • The number of claimants for Disability Living Allowance stood at 162,529 at August 2004, an increase of 8,738 (6%) on the August 2003 figure. Allowances current at August 2004 stood at 95.5 per 1,000 population, considerably higher than the Great Britain figure of 45.5 per 1,000 population.
  • The number in receipt of Retirement Pension at September 2004 was 254,859; this is an increase of 1.4% from September 2003 compared to a 1.3% increase in Great Britain.
  • Bereavement Benefits are available to both men and women. The total number of persons in receipt of bereavement related benefit at September 2004 was 6,270. This represents a net decrease of 746 (11%) in the bereavement related benefit caseload over the period September 2003 to September 2004. The average amount of actual entitlement at September 2004 was £77.58 per week.
  • Between August 2003 and August 2004 the Child Support Agency live load has decreased by 4,672 (16%) and now stands at 25,135. This fall is mainly due to the closure of a large number of suspended cases on the system. Also information on all new cases is held on a new computer system from which it is not possible to extract any reliable information at present. Therefore the figures for August 2004 do not give a true reflection of all cases on the CSA live load.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
  1. The report is available on the website www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/stats_and_research.htm .

  2. The key benefits for persons of working age and their children are Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Income Support.

  3. The key benefits for persons of pensionable age are Attendance Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Pension Credit and Retirement Pension.

  4. In April 2003, two new tax credits were introduced: Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC). The new tax credits replaced Children’s Tax Credit, Working Families’ Tax Credit, Disabled Person’s Tax Credit, the child elements of Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance and the New Deal 50+ Employment Credit - www.hmrc.gov.uk.

  5. Child dependency increases paid with non-income related benefits were abolished for new claims to Retirement Pension, Bereavement Benefit, Incapacity Benefit and Carer’s Allowance in April 2003.

  6. Pension Credit was introduced on 6 October 2003. Pension Credit has two elements: Guarantee Credit, which replaced Minimum Income Guarantee (income for people aged 60 and over) and Savings Credit for people aged 65 and over (which is intended to provide extra money for people who have modest savings).

  7. The next publication will be in June 2006.

  8. Further enquiries or requests for additional copies should be addressed to Frances Curran, Social Welfare Statistics and Consultancy Branch, James House, 2 – 4 Cromac Avenue, Belfast, BT7 2JA. Tel: 028 9081 9947. E-mail: Frances.curran@dsdni.gov.uk

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