Lord Willis of Knaresborough – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Willis of Knaresborough on 2014-06-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many 18–21 year olds and 22–24 year olds in England are (1) employed, (2) employed and claiming housing benefit, and (3) employed and claiming housing benefit and on an apprenticeship.
Lord Freud
Since May 2010, the number of out-of-work Housing Benefit claimants has fallen. Action this Government has taken is bringing the ballooning housing benefit bill under control – saving the taxpayer around £6bn by the end of this Parliament
Housing benefit has always helped those in and out of work. The average rate of increase of housing benefit claimants in work has slowed under this Government, having increased by more than 50% in just 18 months under the last Government. And we have seen a fall in the number of housing benefit claimants in the last year.
(1) Analysis of the Labour Force Survey for the most recent period Jan-Mar 2014 shows that:
Of those aged 18-21 in England, around 1,567,000 are employed.
Of those aged 22-24 in England, around 1,242,000 are employed.
(2) (3)The information for those in work or undertaking apprenticeships, is only available for HB recipients whose claim is not passported: that is for those who do not receive the following benefits: Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance (Income-Based), Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Based), or Pension Credit (Guaranteed Credit).
The information that shows those in work for HB recipients whose claim is not passported can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm
Those in apprenticeships are recorded as being in work and cannot be separately identified.
The economic status of all Housing Benefit (HB) recipients is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
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