9 March 2006
INCOME RELATED BENEFITS: ESTIMATES OF TAKE-UP IN NORTHERN IRELAND 2002/04
The Department for Social Development today published the first estimates of the take-up of the main income related benefits in Northern Ireland.
The benefits covered are Income Support, Minimum Income Guarantee/Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based). The publication provides estimates for 2002/2004 using two years of data combined.
Estimates of take-up are presented as ranges within which true take-up is expected to lie. These 'ranges of true take-up' account for biases that may be present in estimates from data that is less than perfect. Initial estimates have, as far as possible, been adjusted for possible biases. The ranges also account for the effects of sampling variation or sampling error.
Estimates of the total amount of benefit claimed, and the total number of benefit recipients, exclude cases of claims being processed but not yet settled. Some of these claims will result in awards of benefit.
All figures in this publication refer to information from the survey, exclude the full-time self-employed and relate to private households only (see note 2 in Notes for Editors).
Key results are:
Income Support Take-up (non-pensioners)
Total Income Support take-up in 2002/2004 was in the range 80% to 97% by caseload and 84% to 98% by expenditure.
Total amount of Income Support left unclaimed annually was between £8 million and £89 million. The average number of people entitled to Income Support and yet not claiming it was between 3,000 and 26,000. This compares to 100,000 people that claimed £467 million worth of Income Support.
By family type, take-up of Income Support appeared to be lower among non-pensioners without children than those with children.
Minimum Income Guarantee/Pension Credit Take-up (pensioners)
Total Minimum Income Guarantee/Pension Credit take-up in 2002/2004 was in the range 42% to 58% by caseload and 47% to 67% by expenditure.
Total amount of Minimum Income Guarantee/Pension Credit left unclaimed annually was between £95 million and £221 million. The average number of pensioners entitled to Minimum Income Guarantee/Pension Credit and yet not claiming it was between 50,000 and 96,000. This compares to 70,000 people receiving £195 million worth of Minimum Income Guarantee / Pension Credit.
By family type, take-up of Minimum Income Guarantee/Pension Credit is generally lower for couples than for either single males or single females.
Housing Benefit Take-up
Total Housing Benefit take-up in 2002/2004 was in the range 88% to 97% by caseload and 89% to 98% by expenditure.
Total amount of Housing Benefit left unclaimed annually was between £6 million and £39 million. The average number of people entitled to Housing Benefit and yet not claiming it was between 3,000 and 16,000. This compares to 124,000 people receiving £319 million worth of Housing Benefit.
By family type and tenure type, take-up of Housing Benefit was reasonably consistent across all categories.
Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based) Take-up
Total Jobseekers Allowance (Income-Based) take-up in 2002/2004 was in the range 53% to 85% by caseload and 55% to 89% by expenditure.
Total amount of Jobseekers Allowance (Income-Based) left unclaimed annually was between £12 million and £78 million. The average number of people entitled to Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based) and yet not claiming it was between 6,000 and 30,000. This compares to 33,000 people receiving £96 million worth of Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based).
By family type, take-up of Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based) is highest for couples with children.
Overall take-up
Taking all four benefits together, there was between £121 million and £427 million left unclaimed annually in 2002/2004: this compares to £1,077 million that was claimed and represents take-up expenditure of between about 72% and 90%. An approximate aggregate of take-up by caseload would be between 66% and 84%.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- The statistics contained in this publication are derived from the Family Resources Survey in Northern Ireland. The publication provides analyses of the weekly individual income of men and women in Northern Ireland by family type, source of income, age, marital status and employment status.
- These estimates cover only people living in private households because the Family Resources Survey (the main source of information) is a survey of private households only. Also, the estimates do not cover full time self-employed people because information from the survey on the incomes of these people is not sufficient for an accurate assessment of their entitlement to income related benefits.
- Counts of recipients and entitled non-recipients refer to numbers of benefit units; a benefit unit is a single adult or couple, together with any dependent children. The data used to estimate take-up comes from two main sources. Counts of the numbers of benefit recipients are taken from DSD's own administrative records. The numbers of benefit units not taking up their entitlement to benefit are estimated using the sample of households from the Family Resources Survey - an annual survey conducted for the DSD which achieves a response from about 2,000 households in Northern Ireland. Estimates relate to financial years, i.e. years from April to the following March and to the private household (see note 2) population in Northern Ireland.
- Sampling variation or sampling error is the uncertainty in an estimate due to taking a random sample of the population that may not reflect the characteristics of the whole population. The Family Resources Survey is a random sample from the private household population which means estimates of take-up are affected by sampling variation.
- Take-up is measured in two ways: by caseload and by expenditure. Caseload take-up compares the number of benefit recipients - averaged over the year - with the number who would be receiving if everyone took up their entitlement for the full period of their entitlement. Expenditure take-up compares the total amount of benefit received, in the course of a year, with the total amount that would be received if everyone took up their entitlement for the full period of their entitlement.
- To allow reliable estimates to be produced, all figures have been based on a combination of two years data.
- Additional copies of this report are available of the Department's website: http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/stats_and_research
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