I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £348,700 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1955, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare.
The Estimates for my Department which I am now submitting to the Dáil are as prepared by my predecessor. They are three in number.
The first Estimate, that for the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare, provides for the administration costs of the Department. It will be seen that the gross total of the Estimate for 1954-55 is less by £18,064 than the corresponding figure for 1953-54. This is more than accounted for by a reduction of £24,347 in the amount required for salaries and wages in 1954-55. This may not seem consistent with the printed Estimate where, in Part II, there is an increase of £53,673 shown against the salaries sub-head. At the bottom of the table in Part II there is, however, an amount of £78,020 in respect of increases in remuneration in 1953-54. When this amount is added to the amount in sub-head A for the year 1953-54 the increase of £53,673 in salaries and wages shown in the printed Estimate becomes a decrease of £24,347. This drop in expenditure on salaries and wages is due to a reduction in the number of staff employed in the Department by 144. This decrease arises from certain staffing economies resulting from centralisation of headquarters staffs in Áras Mhic Dhiarmada and the continuance of efforts, initiated when the Department was established, to secure reductions in the cost of administration by systematic reorganisation of major sections and the introduction of improved working methods and equipment. This over-all decrease in the number of staff has taken place even though the staffs of some sections have had to be increased, and are still being augmented, to cope with increased work arising from new legislation.
The only other figure in this Estimate which calls for comment is that for Appropriations-in-Aid which shows an increase of £124,476 in 1954-55 as compared with 1953-54. It will be seen from the analysis of the Appropriations-in-Aid figure given on page 379 of the Book of Estimates that this increase is accounted for by an increase of £124,700 in Item I of the Appropriations-in-Aid, which is the receipt from the Social Insurance Fund in respect of the cost of administering the various insurance services.
The amount which the fund will repay to the Vote in respect of the cost of the insurance services is considerably larger in the current year than it was in the previous year for the following reason:—The Social Welfare Act, 1952, gave title to unemployment benefit to persons not formerly so entitled such as persons employed in agricultural employment. This had the effect of increasing the work relating to employment benefit at employment exchanges and branch employment offices and reducing the work relating to unemployment assistance. The increased expenditure on insurance work at employment offices (balanced by a corresponding reduction in expenditure on assistance work) amounts to a large sum and, being repayable to the Vote by the Social Insurance Fund, accounts for most of the increase of £124,476 in the Appropriations-in-Aid figure.
The second Estimate with which I have to deal, that for Social Insurance, is for a sum of £2,798,000. As Deputies are aware, this payment represents the amount by which the income of the Social Insurance Fund was estimated to fall short of the expenditure of the fund in 1954-55. The payments for disability benefit, unemployment benefit, maternity allowance, contributory pensions, marriage grant, maternity grant, treatment benefit and administration were expected to reach a total of £7,947,000, including a small sum of £30,000 in respect of adjustments relating to the old insurance schemes. Income from contributions and interest were estimated to reach £5,183,000, leaving a deficit of £2,764,000, which is the figure shown in sub-head A. It will be seen that as compared with 1953-54 the amount to be provided in this Vote for 1954-55 shows a reduction of £753,482. This is mainly due to the reduction of £745,000 in the amount under sub-head A.
That the amount of this deficit is estimated to be less in 1954-55 than in 1953-54 by a sum of £745,000 is due to the fact that the cost of certain benefits is expected to be substantially lower in 1954-55 than in 1953-54, while the income of the fund from contributions and investments is expected to be higher. For example, unemployment benefit is estimated to cost £2,142,000 in 1954-55 as against £2,765,400 in 1953-54, a reduction in expenditure of £623,400.
As an offset to these reductions in expenditure the administration of the insurance services is expected to cost £1,067,200 in 1954-55 as against a sum of £900,000 which was provided for in the 1953-54 Estimate. This increase in the cost of administration is due to the increase in Civil Service salaries and to the transfer of work from assistance to insurance already referred to.
While I am dealing with the Social Insurance Vote I should, perhaps, mention a matter which has been dealt with since I took office.
It is a condition for unemployment benefit under the Social Welfare Act that at least 50 employment contributions have been paid or credited for the contribution year preceding the benefit year of claim. Contributions are credited for contribution weeks of proved unemployment and notified incapacity for work. Where the condition is satisfied unemployment benefit is payable at full rates. If the condition is not satisfied unemployment benefit may nevertheless be payable by reason of regulations made in January, 1953, which enable personal benefit and allowance in respect of an adult dependent to be paid at lower rates proportionate to the number of paid or credited contributions for the contribution year. The weekly allowance payable in respect of a child dependent is not affected.
The Social Welfare Act, 1952, came into full operation on the 5th January, 1953. Without special provision, persons insured under the former insurance schemes would not, until some time had elapsed, have been in a position to satisfy the contribution conditions for unemployment benefit under that Act. In order that such persons could, when unemployed during the transitional period, obtain unemployment benefit, special provisions were made, including the waiving of this condition until the beginning of a benefit year which would be governed by a complete contribution year under the 1952 Act. The first such benefit year for men began on the 7th June this year, and the governing contribution year was the 1953 contribution year from 5th January, 1953, to 3rd January, 1954.
Normally insured persons are in employment, sick or unemployed and the condition should not be difficult of fulfilment. On examination of the position, however, I found that some 40 to 50 per cent. of claimants would suffer reduction or loss of unemployment benefit by reason of this condition. It was not expected that so many would be affected. The crediting of contributions in respect of unemployment is a new feature in unemployment insurance and although the importance of acquiring credited contributions is brought to the notice of persons using local offices, it was felt that such persons had not appreciated the effect on future benefit of failure to furnish evidence of unemployment when not receiving unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance. For these reasons I considered that the immediate application of the condition would impose hardship in many cases and I therefore made regulations the effect of which is to continue until the end of the current benefit year the waiving of the condition for men who had been insured under the former insurance scheme.
The last Estimate with which I have to deal is that for Social Assistance. This shows a net decrease of £135,600 in 1954-55 as compared with the amount provided in the Estimate for 1953-54. As will be seen from the Book of Estimates, smaller amounts are being provided in 1954-55 than were provided in 1953-54 for old age pensions, unemployment assistance and widows' and orphans' non-contributory pensions. The actual expenditure on these benefits in 1953-54 was, however, less than the amounts provided in the Estimate owing to the difficulty of making accurate estimates of expenditure in view of the changes brought about by the Social Welfare Act, 1952, and the Children's Allowances Act, 1952. The amounts being provided in 1954-55 for the services I have mentioned are, therefore, substantially greater than the actual expenditure on these services in 1953-54. The estimated expenditure on the Social Assistance Vote for 1954-55 is actually £442,400 more than the actual expenditure out of this Vote in 1953-54.
