The Minister of National Insurance as a Judicial Authority

Date01 December 1953
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1953.tb01707.x
Published date01 December 1953
The
Minister
of
National Insurance as
a
Judicial Authority
By NEVILLE
D.
VANDYK,
Ph.D., B.Com.
In
view of the controversy about the desirability of Ministers exercising
appellate functions,
Dr.
Vandyk's impartial survey of the manner in which
Ministers
of
National Insurance have used their powers should be
of
wide
interest.
VARIETY
of appeal procedures was laid down by the Acts passed since
A
1945 to co-ordinate and extend the social services. Of these, the most
used is the appeal machinery set up under the National Insurance Act, 1946,
and the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act, 1946, to determine all
questions arising out of benefit claims. Decisions on these questions rest
with one
or
more of the three-tier independent statutory authorities consisting
of
insurance officer, local appeal tribunal and Cornmissioner.l Disputes
about assessment of disability for awards under the Industrial Injuries Acts
are settled by medical boards and medical appeal tribunals. Appeals made
under the National Assistance Act, 1948, are determined by an appeal tribunal.
In general the Minister of National Insurance is responsible
for
making
appointments to these authoritative bodies.
In some instances the statutes authorise the Minister of National
Insurance himself to determine any queries, and in these cases he acts as
a
judicial authority. As such he has to interpret the statutes and regulations
which were drafted and are administered by
his
own Department.
FAMILY ALLOWANCES
Section
5
of the Family Allowances Act, 1945, provides that the Minister
shall decide any question as to the right to an allowance in respect of any
person for any family. No particular procedure to be followed by the Minister
is laid down in the Act, though provision
is
made for dissatisfied claimants
to appeal to one
or
more referees. These rderees are appointed to a panel
by the Minister from persons nominated by the Lord Chancellor, being
barristers or solicitors and not being Ministry officials.2" Ministry officials
appointed by the Minister for this purpose as Registrar
or
deputy Registrars
of Appeals are responsible for selecting the referees from the panel to determine
any particular claim
or
claims.'" The referee may at his discretion hold a
hearing before giving his decision, and at any such hearing the applicant
is entitled to be represented by a lawyer. The referee's written and signed
decision will be sent by the Registrar as soon as practicable to the applicant
and to the Minister.2c
Table I sets out the number of first claims for Family Allowances received
in each year from 1946 to 1951
;
the percentage
of
rejections
;
the number
:This
system
of
appeal
with r$evant statistics
has
been
described
in
my
article
in
the
Industrial Law Review
of
January,
1953,
>Family Allowances
(References) Regulations, 1946,
S.R.
&
0.
1946
No.
139.
a.
Regu-
"
National Insurance Adjudication
Volume
7,
page
176.
lation
?(I).
b.
Regutation
Z(2)-(3).
c.
Regulation
9.
33
1

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