BENEFITS DENIED

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4806, 5 July 1939, Page 6

BENEFITS DENIED

SOCIAL SECURITY APPLICATION. Another instance of the somewhat surprising miscarriage of Social Security benefits is revealed in the reply which a Te Awainutu resident received in response to his application last week. Incidentally this applicant suffered an injury in the course of his employment, and, under orders of his medical adviser, has been unable to follow any occupation for eight weks. It seems, also, that some time must yet elapse before he is able to resume work.

As a workman, he was covered by the usual policy of insurance under the Workers’ Compensation Act, and his employer made application for the usual wages compensation. But there seems to be a doubt as to the exact cause of the injury, and after some contested correspondence, insurance totalling £4 10s was paid to the worker, computed at 30s per week for three weeks.

The registrar of Social Security was then approached. He now replies: “You do not qualify for benefit as the weekly compensation received by you is equal to the maximum allowable for your class.” Seeing that there has already been eight weeks of “off work” time, and that £4 10s only has been paid, the registrar’s ruling indicates that Social Security is not allowable where the weekly allowance has a “maximum” of 11s 3d per week!