SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEME

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23053, 22 June 1940, Page 2

SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEME

OPERATION FOR FIRST YEAR DETAILS OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE The financial operations of the Social Security Scheme for its first year are shown in the latest Abstract of Statistics. During the 12 months under review, revenue totalled £9,519,793. That figure was slightly more than the estimate for the year, which placed revenue at £9,254,125. Added to that was the Government subsidy of £2,000,000 from the Consolidated Fund and the surplus of £809,000 from the previous year, bringing the total estimated revenue for the year ended March 31, 1940, to £12,063,125. Expenditure, including money spent on war pensions, totalled £12,247,313 (approximately) and from the available figures given in the abstract it appears that the scheme, for the first year of its operation, will show a fairly substantial deficit. On the revenue side, by far the biggest individual sum came from the charge on salaries and wages, this figure totalling £5,557,811. The detailed items of revenue follow for the 12 months: — £ Registration fee .. 636,077 Charge on salaries and wages 5,557,811 Charge on company income 658 > 3 Js Charge on other income .. 2,613,348 Penalties .. • • 26,588 Miscellaneous •• • • oso Total .. •• 9.519,793 The following were the payments under the scheme: — Age benefits, £6,542,296; widows, £790,644; Maori War, £1121; miners, £93,250; invalidity, £944,359; family benefits, £266,918; orphans, £14,974; emergency (age, widws, ete.). £27,918; unemployment, £441,8 ii, sickness, £225,281; emergency (unemployment and sickness), £61,056; hospital benefits, £611,966; mental hospitals, £166,000; maternity benefits, £282,684; war pensions—Great War. £1,572,099; Boer War, £1896; war veterans allowances, £203,040. The figures given for the unemployment, sickness, and emergency (unemployment and sickness) items are for me 48 weeks ended March 31; the hospital, mental, and maternity ngures represent the expenditure since the commencement of the scheme, as it affected those sections, and the figure for Great War pensions does not include payments , made through the High Commissioner in London, amounting to approximately £55,000 (sterling) a year. . , , , The abstract also gives details oi the number of persons receiving benefits. They follow:—Age benefits, 93,651; widows, 10,147; Maori war, 12; miners, 987; invalidity, 11,769; family, 11,012; orphans, 329; emergency (age, widows, etc.), 516; war pensions, 23,873; Boer war, 50; war veterans allowances, 2079, unemployment, 4053; sickness, 2560; emergency (unemployment and sickness), 964.