PENSIONS FOR ALL

Evening Star, Issue 25701, 26 January 1946, Page 8

PENSIONS FOR ALL

BRITAIN'S NEW INSURANCE SCHEME RATES SLIGHTLY ABOVE BEVERIDGE PROPOSALS (N.J4.P.A. Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 10 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 20. Almost three years after the Beveridge report was discussed in Parliament after being debated throughout the country, the Labour Government has issued its National Insurance Bill, it will put into effect the main proposals of the Beveridge report at rates slightly above those advocated' by Sir William. These rates are also higher than the Coalition Government's White Paper on national insurance issued in 1944. ! Briefly speaking the Bill provides that for a weekly payment of 4s 7d by men and ~'fe 7d by women in employment almost everyone in Britain will be covered by insurance to meet sickness, unemployment, maternity, widowhood, and old age. Provision for orphans and a grant for funeral expenses are also made in the Bill, which is expected to become law this year and in full operation by 1948. It will cost £452.000,000 in the first year, of which £118,000,000 will be met bV the Exchequer. Rates of contributions fall into three sections—first, men over 18, who will pay 4s 2d weekly if employed, with another 3s lOd weekly added by the employer Men working for themselves! such as doctors, lawyers, and shopkeepers, will pay 5s 9d, and those who do not work' for a living 4s 8d Women's rates are lower. They are 3s 7d if employed, with another 3s added by the employer, 4s lOd if self-employed, and 3s 8d if not working. THE BENEFITS. The benefits will be as follows: Unemployment, sickness, and retirement : a single man or woman or a married man with a gainfully occupied wife 26s weekly, a married man with wife not gainfully occupied 425, a married woman gainfully employed 20s weekly for unemployment, 16s for sickness, 26s for retirement. The dependents' allowance is 16s for an adult and 7s 6d for the first child; other children will receive 5s weekly. The fa mil v allowance is payable from August-6." 1946. Widows' and orphans' allowances: Widows, for the first thirteen weeks, 36s weekly; if there is a school-age child. 33s 6d for mother and child until the child leaves school. Widows' pension. 26s weekly. Guardians' allowance, 12s weekly, payable for a child losing both parents and living with another family. Maternity, 36s weekly for 13 weeks, beginning six weeks before confinement if normally working, but unable to do so. Grant to all new mothers. £4. Death grante, ranging from £1 for an adult to 6s for a child under three. COMPULSORY SCHEME. The scheme is described as a compulsory one-stamp, one-contribution, onerecord, one-card. In the case of employed people the employer will be responsible for seeing the cards are stamped. In other cases the individuals concerned must see that they are stamped The scheme will be administered by the Ministry of National Insurance, of which Mr James Griffiths is the Minister. Regional authorities will be established, which will open local offices throughout the country. Approved and friendly societies will have no part in administration. A National Insurance Advisory Committee will be appointed to advise the Minister on the working of the scheme. Kverjr five years the Minister will examine the scheme, and particularly the. rates of contribution and payment. There will be no means test._ Local tribunals will decide on the availability oif work and willingness of a man or woman to take it. Retirement pensions will be payable after 65 for men and 60 for women upon retirement from regular work. Public reactions to the Bill have not yet been assessed, but newspaper comment tends to concentrate the cost of the scheme not only to the nation, but also to the individual. ' The Times ' says: " When the ordinary man comes to reflect on the total weekly contribution required of him under the new system it may serve as a reminder, which the Government now needs to drive home in every possible way. that the price to be paid for social security is efficient and productive work."