EXTRA RELIEF GRANT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20650, 26 June 1935, Page 9

EXTRA RELIEF GRANT.

Certain Classes Receive No Benefit. The extra allowance of 4s a ■week for unemployed dependent children between the ages of 16 and 20 years which was granted recently by the Unemployment Board has given rise to some misunderstanding on the part of certain relief workers receiving the City Council’s subsidy. Some of these workers find that, although they have unemployed dependent children between the specified ages, they are not able to obtain the extra allowance, while other relief workers are receiving it.

An explanation of the position was given to-day by Mr M. Ross, Christchurch certifying officer for the Unemployment Board. Mr Ross stated that men in certain classes could obtain the extra allowance only if they were transferred fro msubsidised City Council jobs to other No. 5 scheme jobs which do not carry any subsidy.

A man in B class with a wife but no dependent children under the age of 16 received £1 4s a week under the No. 5 scheme if employed on work that was not subsidised, but if he was employed by the City Council oil subsidised work he received £1 9s, said Mr Ross. Assuming that that man had a dependent child between the ages of 16 and 20, he could elect to be transferred to class C and receive £1 Ss a week on unsubsidised work, or remain in class B and still receive £1 9s on the subsidised work. City Council Scale. This position was brought about by the system under which the City Council’s subsidy operated. There were eight classes for married men, and the Unemployment Board’s scale of payments and the City Council payments were as follows:

It would be seen from a comparison of the board’s scale and the City Council’s scale, said Mr Ross, that in certain cases it was no advantage for a man receiving the subsid3 r to be raised to the next higher class because he had a dependent child between the ages of 16 and 20 3'ears. However, if a man had three unemployed dependent children between 16 and 20 he would be entitled to 4s in respect of each one, or a total additional amount of 12s a week. That was not given in the form of a dole to No. 5 scheme workers, but was earned by the man being raised to a higher class and being enabled to earn the extra money by working for a longer period each week.

City Board's Council’s Class. Dependents. Rate. Rate. £ s. £ s. d. B Wife, no children 14 19 0 C Wife, 1 child ..18 190 R Wife, 2 children 2 12 1 16 3 IS Wife, 3 children 1 38 2 3 6 F Wife, 4 children 2 18 2 3 6 Cl Wife, 5 children 2 0 2 3 6 11 Wife, 6 children 2 2 2 2 0 9 I Wife, over 6 child. 2 4 2 10 9