Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Claimants – 20 December 1985

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Benefit Claimants on 20th December 1985.

Mr. Caborn Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what criteria is adopted by his Department for visiting claimants of benefits at home;

(2) how claimants are selected for interview at home by his Department.

Mr. Major Details to support a claim to supplementary benefit made by a pensioner or someone not required to sign on at the unemployment benefit office, ray be taken at an interview in the claimant’s home if the claimant prefers this to filling in a postal claim form. At present most claimants who make a claim by post are visited within six months of their claim to check that benefit entitlement has been correctly assessed; thereafter most claimants are visited every three years for the same purpose.