SPECIFIC RATES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23097, 23 July 1938, Page 15

SPECIFIC RATES

PENSION PROPOSALS SOME SPECIAL NEEDS ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS TbV TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER! WELLINGTON, Friday Ten specific social security benefits other than superannuation are dealt with by the National Health and Superannuation Committee in part of it* report. (1 ) Invalidity. The committee recommends that the benefit should be paid at the rate of £1 a week for invalids between the ages of ]ti and 20 and thereafter at the rate of £1 10s. The Government's proposal to provide in the benefit £1 10s for the invalid with ]()s for his wife and 10s for each child is approved. The blind "should be included. (2) Sickness. The committee considers that the benefit should be related to the need of the individual. Sick benefit should be payable at a rate adequate to meet the temporary situation which the average sickness creates and should be paid where tlie income of the breadwinner is lost by inability to work. It is recommended that the receipt of a sick benefit from a friendly society should not be a disqualification from receiving full benefit under the national scheme. Disability Problem (3) Disability. The class that would be covered by such a benefit is extremely wide and incapable of exact definition, states the report. It is considered that every case should be dealt with on its merits by persons with thorough oualificntions. (4) Sustenance. The committee recommends that the proposed rate of £1 for an individual with 15s for his wife and 5s for each dependent child under the age of 1G should be adopted and that qualification should be strictly limited to men who arc physically and mentally capable of work when it is available, those men who are not fit for employment being transferred to other benefit groups. (5) "Widowed Mothers. The committee approves the proposed rate of £1 5s for the widow, subject to the existing limitations, with 10s lor each dependent child until the youngest child reaches 16, or 18 in special circumstances so long as the child is still at sidiool. Deserted wives and wives of mental hospital inmates should participate, ns at present. Widows and Orphans

(G) Widows. The committee approves tlie proposal to grant a pension of £'l a week, with an allowable additional income of £l, to widowed mothers formerly pensioned whose children have all passed the age of 1(3, and to other widows aged 50 and over who have been (al widowed before the age oi 50, ,'»ftcr not less than 15 years' marriage, or (b) widowed at 50 or over, a tier not less than five years' marriage. To meet the ease of women widowed before 50 and after less than 15 years' marriage, it is suggested that the pension be postponed by six months for each year of marriage short of 15. Thus a woman w hose marriage had lasted for l;i years would receive a pension from the age of 51. and so on. (7) Orphans. The committee endorses the proposed benefit ol 15s weekly to approved foster-parents of motherless children. It is also thought .that a reasonable amount of capital should be .safeguarded to give them a start in life some time after the a<je of 16. If some income is available toward the maintenance of these children it is thought that this might be reasonably used in reduction of the proposed benefit. It is recommended that no account should be taken of capital up to £SOO. War Veterans' Incapacity Family allowances. The committee recommends the adoption of the Government's proposal to increase the allowance from 2s to Is a week in respect of the third and subsequent children. and to fix the allowable income, apart from the allowance, of £5 instead of £1 n week. It considers that a very large number of wage-earners outside the lowest income group with large families are unable to supply their children with all material needs, and that the extension is justified iu spite of its large cost. (in Miners' Phthisis. The committee endorses the Government's proposal to increase the pension from £1 5s to £1 10s, with supplementary benefits at tile existing rates. (10) War Pensions and Allowances. The Government is recommended to consider carefully the possibility of increasing the economic pension to £1 10s a week. The proposals regarding war veterans should be adopted as the basic rate for the allowance and that the War Pensions Hoard be empowered in special cases to grant up to £1 10s a week, with £1 for the wife. The maximum allowance should Ih< £."> 10s, with no reduction for additional earnings up to £l. It is recommended that the Government should consider some provision for the wives and children of men who, by reason of age, qualify forsuperannuation for themselves only some years before their wives, provided a medical certificate shows that the breadwinner is unable reasonably, to maintain Jiis place in industry.