THE LETTER BUT NOT THE SPIRIT
The latest interpretation by the Minister of Finance of the amendment to the Social Security Bill affecting the rights of contributors to the National Provident Fund indicates that the benefits from the Fund, in addition to the benefits under the Bill, are to be limited to the old age pension rate of 17s 6d a week operating in 1926. As we have pointed out previously, persons who joined the National Provident Fund prior to 1932 did so on the clear understanding that they would receive full old age benefits in addition to the annuities "to which their payments to the Fund entitled them. In many cases the annuities amounted to more than 17s 6d a week. There was thus a definite contract between the contributors and'the State. Under the terms of the amendment which has now been embodied in the Bill the State may claim that it is observing the letter of the contract but it cannot claim that it is observing the spirit. It is clear that the spirit of the contract was that annuities would be paid in full in addition to benefits under the Pensions Act, 1926. The Pensions Act has now been absorbed into the Social Security Bill and National Provident Fund contributors were entitled to expect that their rights would be fully preserved, as if the Pensions Act were still in operation. There will be a definite hardship on those persons whose weekly payments entitle them to an annuity of something more than 17s 6d a week. In the amending clause adopted last night the Government has given some evidence of a desire to remove anomalies from the legislation, but it has stopped short of a full realisation of what is just and equitable. It has gone part' of the distance in meeting the just claim of National Provident Fund contributors but it has done ndthing for those people who have made provision for themselves in superannuation schemes and by insurance and other forms of investment. Until the rights of all those who have had some thought for the future, are preserved the Social Security Bill will fall far short of being equitable in the benefits it provides.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380908.2.32
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 60, 8 September 1938, Page 8
Word Count
369
THE LETTER BUT NOT THE SPIRIT
Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 60, 8 September 1938, Page 8
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