RELIEF BENEFITS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 132, 4 May 1940, Page 12

RELIEF BENEFITS

MINISTER ANSWERS CRITIC. LETTER TO PAHIATUA MAYOR. The statements made by the Mayor of Pahiatua (Mr S. K. Siddells) in j criticism of the unemployment bene- ! fits under the Social Security Act, ! at a recent meeting of the Pahiatua Borough Council, and published in : the “Manawatu Standard,” have i been replied to by Hon. W. _E. Parry, Minister for Social Security. In a letter to Mr Siddells the Minister states, inter alia: “Briefly the three statements attributed to you are as follows : (1) When unemployed men are put off by any council they have to stand down for a fortnight before they may qualify for an unemployment benefit. (2) If a man is put off the unemployed (it is assumed that you mean lie is discharged from full-time employment) subsidised by the Labour Department, Employment Division) after six months, he must stand down a fortnight before he may receive an unemployment benefit of 4(ls per week for himself, his wife and nis child. Moreover, if during the fortnight stated he earns 20s cutting hedges he has to stand down another two weeks. If during that time he earns, say, another 255, he has to miss another fortnight, and so on. (3) These anomalies seem to be attended to in tlie cities but not in the country, and officers in.Masterton appear to be too frightened or too tied up with red tape to make representations to Wellington. “Under Section 54, Part 11., of the Social Security Act ; 1938, the maximum qualifying (i.e. stand down) period that may be imposed on any applicant for unemployment benefit other than a seasonal worker or person voluntarily unemployed is seven'days,” the letter adds. “It is important to note, however, that the Social Security Commission has decided that the waiting period will not be enforced where the earnings and other assessable income of any applicant for bonefit in the four weeks preceding the date of application have not, when averaged on a weekly basis, exceeded the maximum income scale rate for his conjugal classification. For example, the maximum income scale rate of a married man with a dependentwife and child is £3 5s per week, so that if his earnings and other income in the four weeks preceding the. date of application do not exceed £l3. no qualifying period will be imposed. Local officers of' the Social Security Department are given a discretion in waiving any qualifying period where the application of the above rule would lead to undue hardship. “Where the qualifying period is enforced in any case, the applicant will receive full benefit in his second week of registration unless be has fairlv large earnings in his stand-down week or goes off to full-time employment in the second week of registration. For example, an applicant with a dependent wife and child may_ earn £3 5s in his stand-down week without reduction in his statutory rate of benefit of £2 per week for his second week of registration unless he has other income. If. however, he went off to full-time employment after being employed for two days in the second week, he would bo entitled to receive a. reduced benefit only for this week. “I also wish to point out in connection with the example quoted above, that, after the first week of benefit, the maximum weekly unemployment l>enofit rate of £2 will not he reduced, unless the earnings and other income of the beneficiary exceed £1 5s in any week; when, however, such earnings and other income exceed £3 ss, the weekly benefit rate of £2 will bo reduced by’ the amount by which they exceed £1 ss. “All rules relating to the administration of unemployment and other monetary benefits under the Social Security Act, 1938, are applied with equal force to both city and country applicants, no variation or preferential treatment being permissible in respect of an individual or individuals ill either of these classes. Furthermore, local officers of the Social Security Department arc required to bring under the notice of the Social Securitv Commission any defects in the administration of unemployment benefits, especially for The purpose of avoiding or remedying hardship to any applicant or class of applicants for benefit. “From a perusal oi the above_outline in relation to stand-down qualification applicable to persons applying for unemployment benefits under the Social Security Act. you will no doubt appreciate that the statements which you are alleged to have made werv> quite erroneous and misleading. Therefore. I sugsest that in future, before making public statements on any general administrative matter relating to the payment of monetary benefits under the Social Security Act. the full purport and details of which you may not understand, you approach the Registrar. Social” Security Department, Masterton, or the Social Security Commission for the purpose of obtaining reliable information. “I understand that the Minister of Labour lias taken up with you certain questions which you raised in relation to subsidised work.”