Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define family income and household income, and whether family income includes the father's income whether or not he is living with his children and their mother.

The Government does not have a single standard definition of family or household income. The definition used will vary depending on the particular circumstances under consideration.

The definition of household income in the National Statistics publication Households Below Average Income, which analyses the income distribution, is:

Total income from all sources of all household members including dependants.

This definition includes any income received by a household member from an absent parent or former partner.