The limited changes of HB receipt rates over time could be explained by different, and often higher, income thresholds than are used for ‘core’ SA. Low-income families may therefore receive HB regardless of employment status, which could explain a lower responsiveness to cyclical changes in employment levels. Rates of benefit receipt at one point in time, and even the changes in these rates over time, say very little about how often people move on or off benefits. In particular, from looking at the rates of benefit receipt alone, it is not possible to tell whether the recipient population changed completely from one period to the next or whether the same group of individuals remained on benefits.