asked the Taoiseach if he will state, in respect of a man with a dependent wife, the present rates of unemployment benefit and disability benefit, the pre-war rates and the value of the latter in terms of present-day prices.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment and Disability Benefits.
asked the Taoiseach if he will state the value of the present maximum rate of old age pension in terms of pre-war prices and the maximum rate of pension payable in 1938.
I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle. to take questions Nos. 2 and 3 together.
The pre-war rate of unemployment benefit for a man with a dependent wife, was £1 a week, i.e., 15/- for the man and 5/- for his dependent wife. The present rate of unemployment benefit for a man with a dependent wife is 36/- a week, i.e., 24/- for the man and 12/- for his dependent wife.
The pre-war rate of sickness benefit under the National Health Insurance Acts for a man was 15/- a week. There was no provision for dependency under the National Health Insurance Acts, so that a man received nothing extra for a dependent wife. Sickness benefit was payable for a period of six months only; after six months, if the insured man's illness continued, he received disablement benefit (a lower rate of sickness benefit) at 7/6 a week. The present rate of disability benefit under the Social Welfare Act, 1952, for a man with a dependent wife is 36/- a week, i.e., 24/- for the man and 12/- for his dependent wife. Disability benefit has replaced sickness benefit and disablement benefit since 5th January, 1953.
The pre-war maximum rate of old age pension was 10/- a week. The present maximum rate is 21/6 a week.
It is not possible to state the value of pre-war rates in terms of present-day prices or present-day rates in terms of pre-war prices, since cost-of-living index numbers appropriate to the classes of families concerned are not available. From the official general index numbers it is estimated that £1 in August, 1938, would purchase the same quantity of goods and service as would £2.27 in February, 1953.