RISE IN BENEFITS OF SOCIAL SECURITY

Grey River Argus, 19 August 1949, Page 4

RISE IN BENEFITS OF SOCIAL SECURITY

WELLINGTON, Aug. 18 It is proposed to increase the scale of the social security monetary benefits from £2 5s to £2 10s a week, with effect from June 1, 1949. The increase will apply to age, widows', invalids’, miners’, sickness, and unemployment benefits and where the benefit includes a portion payable on account of a wife who is not qualified to receive a benefit in her own right her portion will also be raised by 5s a week, from £2 5s to £2 10s a week*. Beneficiaries under twenty years of age and orphans will benefit from the increase of 5s weekly in the basic rate. Mothers' allowances payable to widows will also be increased by 5s weekly. It is not proposed to vary the present rates of universal superannuation or family benefits. The estimated additional cost of the above increases for the current financial year is £1,800,000. Proposals for the present year include the introduction of an “ambulance benefit,” and /also improvements to the existing procedure in dealing with the “general medical services.”