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Anyone wishing to claim Income Support, or has a query regarding the benefit, should go directly to the (External) JobCentrePlus website .
This research monitor details Income Support statistics published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The focus is on the results for Lancashire local authorities and wards within the county. Income Support figures can be downloaded from the (External) Statistics section of the DWP website by clicking on the DWP Tabulation Tool option. Ward and Super Output Area numbers can also be accessed via the same link.
The DWP website contains information on Income Support entitlement requirements in the A-Z list of services.
Income Support (IS) is for people on low incomes. Claimants may be in employment, but do not have to be available for full-time work to be entitled to the benefit. People who are required to be available to work full-time claim Jobseeker's Allowance. The main types of claimants who receive IS are lone parents, the long and short-term sick, people with disabilities and other special groups. Claimants are, with a few exceptions, aged between 16 and 59.
The amount of Income Support that a claimant can receive depends mainly on their age, if they are single or have a partner, earnings and hours of work of any partner, whether they have dependent children or have special needs such as disability or caring responsibilities, and whether they are liable for certain housing costs such as mortgage interest repayments. Savings over £16,000 usually mean that a person cannot get Income Support. There is also a large range of personal allowances that are too comprehensive to be detailed in this short report, but can viewed on the DWP website.
Table 1 presents details of average weekly payments to claimants at the National, North West, County and District levels for May 2008. Average payments for all claimants amounted to £82.55 per week at the national level, whilst for the Lancashire County Council area, the average was £1.67 per week less at £80.88. At the local area level, average payment figures varied between a high of £86.25 in Blackburn with Darwen to only £69.72 in Ribble Valley.
At the National level, there were over 2.1 million claimants to Income Support; 300,340 in the North West region and 37,500 in the Lancashire County Council area, which excludes Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool unitary authorities.
Between May 2007 and May 2008, the number of Income Support claimants at the national level declined by -1.2%, whilst for the county council area there was a yearly decrease of -1.8%.
For all claimant families in the Lancashire County Council area, the benefit is collectively worth around £3.0 million per week or approximately £156 million per year.
At the local area level, the two unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen (7,690) and Blackpool (8,590) recorded the highest caseload figures followed by Preston with 5,830. In comparison, the mainly rural Ribble Valley district had a caseload of just 690.
Lancashire Profile contains a table that details the reasons people give for reasons people give for leaving the unemployment claimant count . One of the reasons is to claim Income Support instead. The results for July 2008 reveal that for the broader Lancashire area, that includes Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool unitary authorities, only 35 of the 3,715 that left the claimant count in that particular month stated that they were leaving to claim Income Support. Given the significant numbers in the 'Not known' and 'Failed to sign' categories, it is likely that the actual figure may be higher.
The ward-level numbers are published on the DWP website. Table 2 highlights the 12 wards with the highest claimant numbers. The two central Blackpool wards of Bloomfield and Claremont, along with the Blackburn ward of Shadsworth with Whitebirk were the only three that recorded more than 900 claimants.
Figure 1 presents a geographic analysis of Income Support claimants for all the wards in the broader Lancashire area, with the results split by five broad groups. Concentrations of wards with high numbers are particularly apparent in central Blackpool, Preston, Blackburn and Burnley.
Figure 1 Number of Income Support Claimants by Ward, May 2008Map showing the number of income support claimants in each of Lancashire's wards - see text for details Source Department for Work and Pensions
This page was compiled by Bryan Moulding .
All enquiries from the media should be sent to Corporate.Communications@lancashire.gov.uk .
Any other questions about the content of this page may be sent to EconInfo@lancashire.gov.uk .
For all enquiries about the county council's services , contact the Customer Service Centre on 0845 0530000 (01772 530000) or at Enquiries@css.lancscc.gov.uk .
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