£10 15s For Unemployed

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31412, 4 July 1967, Page 1

£10 15s For Unemployed

Unemployment benefit rates paid by the State to those who cannot find work are: £lO 15s a week for a married man; £5 17s 6d a week for a single, divorced or separated man or woman aged over 20; £4 12s 6d a week for single persons aged between 16 and 20.

The unemployment rates are the same as the sickness benefit rates. The current rates were fixed in January this year, when the married couples’ rate was increased by 5s a week and the single person’s rate by 2s 6d a week. Persons on unemployment (and sickness) benefit still receive the child allowance (15s a week) for dependent children.

Every person aged 16 and over is entitled to an unemployment benefit (excluding those qualified for an age benefit) provided that they are:

Unemployed. Capable of undertaking and willing to undertake suitable work.

Have taken reasonable steps to obtain suitable employment. Have resided continuously in New Zealand for not less than 12 months at any time. First Seven Days

The Registrar of the Social Security Denartment in Christchurch (Mr E. B. Pyne) said that an unemployment benefit was not paid for the first seven days of any period of unemployment To qualify for the benefit, the applicant had first to register with the Labour Department The applicant would be given a job if one was available.

“If there is no job available within a very short period,

the applicant can obtain a registration certificate which should be brought to the Social Security Department. “At the Social Security Department, the applicant is required to complete an application form for unemployment benefit. Payment is not made for the first week after the application is lodged. “During the currency of the benefit, the beneficiary is required to call at the Labour Department and Social Security Department weekly. “The benefit is posted to the home address of the beneficiary towards the end of each week,” Mr Pyne said. He said that there was an allowance of up to £4 a week for income other than earnings received by the applicant and his wife. If a man, or his wife, had an income other than earnings of up to £4 a week, the man would still get his full benefit There is no means test from the property point of view—the applicant may have a car and own his own home and so on.

If an applicant owned flats and his net income from renting them was £lO a week, then he would have £6 a week deducted from the benefit—the income of £lO from the flats being £6 a week above the £4 allowance. If the applicant in the case was qualified to obtain an unemployment benefit of £lO 15s a week, he would get £4 15s, Mr Pyne explained. The Social Security Commission was empowered to postpone for up to six weeks the start of an unemployment benefit, Mr Pyne said. The commission could also terminate the benefit if the applicant had:

Voluntarily become unemployed without'good and sufficient reason. Lost his employment by reason of any misconduct as a worker. Refused or failed, without good and sufficient reason, to accept any offer of suitable employment.

Mr Pyne said that if a worker simply walked off a job without any reason, his entitlement to unemployment benefit, for example, could be delayed for up to six weeks. The Labour Department officers advised the Social Security Department if any registered unemployed person, or any person seeking work through the Labour Department, refused the offer of suitable employment. “The person involved would be invited to call at the Social Security Department offices and the position would be discussed with the person. We try to be fair, and no person is refused an unemployment benefit if that person is acting fairly and responsibly,” he said. Mr Pyne said that no extra staff had been engaged by the Social Security Department in Christchurch because of additional work from increased numbers seeking and

being granted unemployment benefits. The present staff were working very hard and keeping up with the work involved. If the present level of work continued for long, or increased, extra staff would have to be put on. ■ Minimum Wages

The minimum rate of wages which can be paid to a man, aged 21 and over, is 5s B}d an hour, or £ll 2s 6d a week. The minimum rate for a woman adult worker is 3s 9jd an hour, or £7 8s lOd a week. These statutory minimum rates do not apply to many jobs. They apply only when no other award, industrial agreement, statutory or other wage-fixing machinery, applies. The minimum rates were increased on February 13, this year. From September 10, 1964, the minimum adult rates were £lO 16s 8d for men and £7 4s 8d for women.