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Dept of Social Security

Answer

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total expenditure of the social fund for each of the past five financial years; and what the administrative costs were and what proportion they were of expenditure. [40284] Mr. Roger Evans: The information is set out in the table. As the social fund's business involves both paying money out and recovering the amounts awarded as loans, the most appropriate measure of the cost of operating the fund is a comparison between administration costs and gross expenditure plus recoveries. This information is therefore also given in the table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Gross benefit Administration costs £ Administration costs as Administration costs as expenditure £ million million a percentage of gross a percentage of gross benefit expenditure benefit expenditure plus recoveries 1990-91 280 132 {3}47{} {3}32.5{} 1991-92 361 163 {3}45{} {3}32 1992-93 402 {1}208 52 35 1993-94 442 {2}270 61 41 1994-95 451 209 46 30.5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1. Includes one off IT development and capital costs of £17 million. 2. Includes one off IT development and capital costs of £45 million. 3. Figures differ slightly from those previously published which did not include any cold weather payments. 4. 1994-95 is the most recent year for which estimated actual administration costs are available.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

40284; 282 c771-3W;282 c769-71W

Session

1995-96

Subjects

Administration Costs Expenditure Social Fund

Contains statistics

Yes