SOCIAL SECURITY

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 August 1946, Page 2

SOCIAL SECURITY

£22,238,000 PAID OUT LAST YEAR RECEIPTS OVER £24,000,000 Monetary benefits paid out of the Social Security Fund in the year ended March 31 last amounted to £16,673,690, and the cost of medical and other benefits was £5,564,315, a total of £22,238,005, says the report of the Social Security Department presented to the House of Representatives. The total receipts'of £24,675,894 included a balance of £2,389,702 and £7,000,000 in grants from the Consolidated Fund.

By far the greatest outgoing was £9,817,615 for age benefits, the other monetary benefits paid being universal superannuation £1,185,508, widows £1,043,593, orphans £24,178, family £2,611,759, invalids £1,183,537. miners £88,359, Maori War £lOl, unemployment £31,661, sickness £565,420, and emergency £121,959. Medical benefits totalled £l,427,309, hospital benefits £2,173,460, maternity benefits £600,209, pharmaceutical benefits £1,133,366, and supplementary benefits £229,971.

Unemployment Benefits

Persons granted unemployment benefits during the year numbered 1234, compared with 1250 in the previous year, and 1148 applications, as against 958 in 1944-45, were declined; but 712 persons whose applications were declined were granted emergency benefits. Sickness benefits were granted to 30,647 persons, compared with 26,922 in 1944-45, and the number of applications declined was £3,235 (2.350). In 442 cases, compared with 525 the previous year, applications were declined but emergency benefits granted on the ground of hardship. The Social Security Commission may, in its discretion, says the report, grant a special benefit on the ground of hardship to any person who is not “qualified for any other benefit under the Act, but who, by reason of age or of physical or mental disability, or for any other reason, is unable to earn a sufficient livelihood for himself and his dependants. Full and sympathetic use is made of this power, and emergency benefits granted during the year numbered 1547. Applications for Pensions ... During the year the Department received 25,812 applications for pensions 19,306 of them being lodged by returned servicemen in respect of their own disabilities and the balance of 6506 being made up of claims by dependants, applications for economic pensions, and' war veterans allowances. War pensions boards dealt with 91,039 cases. In the year under review there was a considerable extension of the activities to deal with the treatment of ex-servicemen suffering disabilities due io war service. At March 31 there were 42,637 family benefits in force, representing payments’ in respect of 151,361 children. With the abolition of the means le.si for family benefits from April ! (he Social Security Commission anticipated that a further 180,000 families would participate in the scheme and that family benefits would be paid in respect of approximately 33d,000 additional children.