Statutes and Reports of Committees
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1966.tb02259.x |
STATUTES AND
REPORTS
OF
COMMITTEES
NATIONAL
INSURANCE
ACT
1966
IN
accordance with the National Plan, and on the eve of the general
election, Parliament passcd the first of an intended series of
enactments to ovcrhaul the national insurance scheme. The primary
purpose of the National Insurance Bill was to raise benefit rates,
and in the circumstances it is not surprising that neither side of
the House offcred much criticism of this purpose. The Act does,
however, contain
a
number of provisions which, though their
‘;.interim
”
nature was stressed, do give some indication of the
way in which insurance legislation is to develop.
The Act introduces
a
new earnings related supplement to bc
added to the existing flat-rate benefit
for
widows, the unemployed,
and those absent from work through sickness
or
industrial injury.
This supplement
is
calculated
as
one-third
of
an employee’s weekly
earnings between
€0
and
€80,
thus giving
a
maximum of
27
per
week.l
If,
however, flat-rate benefit (including allowances for depen-
dants) and supplement together come to more than
85
per cent. of
normal weekly earnings, then only such amount
as
brings the total
up to
86
per cent. will be paid.2 Thus
it
is possible that in some
cases,
where earnings are exceptionally low, there will be no entitle-
mcnt to earnings related benefit at all, since flabrate benefit will by
itself amount to
85
per
cent. of weekly earnings: the employee who
lives at subsistence level and who will be
in
grave difficulty
if
he has
to take
a
16
pcr cent. drop in income is thus given no further help by
the Act.
It
would be gratifying to see some investigation done on
the effectiveness of
a
wages-stop to discourage voluntary absentee-
ism, in view of the disproportionate degree of hardship
it
imposes
on the low wage earner.
Normal weekly earnings
”
are determined by taking one-
fiftieth of the total earnings in the preceding tax year,
as
shown
on
the employee’s
PGO
revenue form.8
If
the PO0 is lost, then inquiries
will have to be made from the employer, with consequent (and
considcrablc) administrative delays. The
PO0
is
a
quite unremark-
able slip of paper, with, one would guess,
a
fair propensity towards
being misldid, and
it
is perhaps unfortunate that the smooth
functioning of the scheme depends to such an extent on its retention
by the employee. But alternatives are hard to And, and this
arrangement at least has the virtue
of
simplicity.
The supplement is payable from the thirteenth day of unemploy-
ment
or
incapacity, and for six months thereafter.
1
National
Iusurauco
Act
1060,
8.
2.
2
Except in the case of industrial injury bencfit-soe
bolow.
8
National Ineuranco
Act
1066,
8.
2
(ti).
587
VOL
29
19
To continue reading
Request your trial