asked the Minister for Social Welfare the estimated annual amount paid by way of compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts; and the estimated annual increase which will follow on the implementation of the Social Welfare (Occupational Injuries) Bill.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Workmen's Compensation.
29.
According to the latest published returns, insurance companies paid £1,384,000 on claims under employer's liability policies in 1962, and on the basis of conclusions reached by the Commission on Workmen's Compensation, this would include £927,000 in respect of workmen's compensation. There would be a further sum of about £273,000 paid by employers who had not taken out insurance, so that the estimated total paid by way of workmen's compensation would be £1,200,000.
The annual expenditure on benefits, including pensions, to injured workmen and their dependants under the provisions of the Social Welfare (Occupational Injuries) Bill, 1965, will increase over a period of years before stability is reached. The estimated expenditure on benefits will, in the long term, amount to about £2,300,000 a year.
Liabilities under the Workmen's Compensation Acts in respect of accidents occuring and diseases contracted before the new Act operates will, of course, continue after its commencement.
Can the Minister explain how it is that although the contributions which many employers are being asked to make under the new Act are five times greater than what they are now required to pay, the benefits which will be payable will, apparently, according to the Minister's figures, be less than twice what is now paid? How come the discrepancy?
I do not know that it has been established that the contributions will be five times—or anything approaching five times—what is now payable.
Will the Minister have regard to the clerical workers? Certainly the contributions in respect of clerical workers which will be required under the new Act are five times greater, although according to the Minister's figures the benefit will be less than twice what is now paid.
This is a social insurance scheme which levels the contributions over the whole field of employment.
The contributions are being multiplied by five and the benefits are less than twice what is now paid.