DWP makes £28 million housing benefit saving
Improvements in the administration of housing benefit and council tax contributed to efficiency savings of £28 million, according to The Department of Work and Pensions autumn report.
Figures also showed the number of people on Jobseeker’s Allowance went up dramatically from October 2009 at 1,639,500 compared to 980,900 in October 2008.
And children living in worklessness households also went up considerably by 152,000 in the second quarter of this year from 1.72 million children in the same period in 2009.
‘The Department’s Information Flows Programme delivered real improvements to the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, contributing to efficiency savings of £28 million in real terms,’ the report says.
Although, it states: ‘The Government has made good progress on tackling child poverty, lifting 500,000 children out of poverty since1998-99 so that households with children are on average £2,350 better off than in 1997 as a result of personal tax and benefit changes.
‘Spending measures introduced in and since the Budget 2007 are expected to lift around another 500,000 children out of poverty by the end of the spending review period.’
The number on other out-of-work benefits rose only slightly to 3,521,900 in May 2009, up from 3,507,700 in May 2008.
The figures also show there was a slight drop in people leaving and staying off benefits for six months – from 55.7 per cent in May 2008 to 51.1 per cent in May 2009.
In the report, the DWP says unemployment has risen by less than expected and that underspend, announced in the pre-budget report this month, would be used to support additional help for unemployed people. Office for National Statistics figures show unemployment had risen to 2.49 million in the third quarter of this year.
Jobcentre Plus had recruited more than 16,000 full-time employees, bringing its full-time staffing to just under84,000 by November 2009, it found.
Secretary for work and pensions Yvette Cooper says in the forward: ‘This report shows where we have made progress and where our current efforts are targeting help to do more.
‘It is a testament to the dedicated staff of the Department for Work and Pensions who undertake every day to help millions of people and their families to make the most of the opportunities available to them.’
The report can be found at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/autumn-performance-report-09.pdf
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Readers' comments (3)
Melvin Bone | 23/12/2009 10:25 am
'savings of £28 million in real terms'
Any statement from the government that includes the phrase ' in real terms' means that no such figure actually exists but that an accountant has 'adjusted' it...
There are only three types of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics.
If they did save £28 million they should buy a couple of helicopters with it.
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worried well | 23/12/2009 10:50 am
There is no evidence in this report, there are only claims that the Information flows program delivered real improvement. My humble assessment of this report is that it is substantially flawed.
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| 24/12/2009 3:19 am
Check out the:
"Office for National Statistics figures show unemployment had risen to 28.93 million in the third quarter of this year"
Either this is a Guardian-esque typo or they have really been massaging the figures up to now. UN-employment of 28.93 million? Isn't that the entire adult population? I knew things were bad but...
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