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Dept of Social Security

Answer

Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the current (i) administrative and overhead costs required to administer social security claims and payments and (ii) numbers of civil servants and benefit centres; and what were the costs in each year since 1980 at 1996 prices. [4118] Mr. Burt: The information is in the table. £ million _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Administration 1996-97 prices 1979-80 837 2,208 1980-81 1,073 2,393 1981-82 1,273 2,588 1982-83 1,381 2,621 1983-84 1,548 2,808 1984-85 1,678 2,898 1985-86 1,734 2,839 1986-87 1,879 2,986 1987-88 2,372 3,579 1988-89 2,518 3,561 1989-90 2,765 3,655 1990-91 2,571 3,147 1991-92 2,849 3,282 1992-93 3,182 3,522 1993-94 3,406 3,663 1994-95 3,283 3,466 1995-96 3,410 3,504 1996-97 3,463 3,463 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} The figures shown represent total administrative costs including administrative grants. {2 }The figures for the financial years 1990-91 to 1996-97 are taken from the 1996 Social Security departmental report. {3 }The figures prior to 1990-91 include the Department of Social Security repayment to the Department for Education and Employment for the administrative costs of the unemployment benefit service, which has now ceased, and are taken from the appropriate social security departmental reports and government expenditure plans. {4} Social Security claims and payments are administered via 155 district offices, three benefit centres in Ashton in Makerfield, Belfast and Glasgow and four benefit directorates dealing with centrally administered benefits at Blackpool, Preston, Newcastle and Washington. The current number of civil servants is 92,038.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

4118; 286 c104-5W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Applications Administration Costs Civil servants Offices Social security benefits

Contains statistics

Yes