I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £8,730,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1971, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare, for certain services administered by that Office, for payments to the Social Insurance Fund, and for sundry grants.
The original Estimate for my Department for the current financial year amounted to £64,158,000. This Suppletary Estimate for £8,730,000 now before the House is required to provide for the cost in the current financial year of the extensions and improvements in our services announced in the 1970 Budget and enacted by the Social Welfare Act, 1970.
The total estimated requirement for social welfare for 1970-71 is nearly £73 million. This represents only the amount which the Exchequer must provide to meet its share of the cost of social welfare services. To arrive at the total cost of these services it is necessary to take into account the estimated expenditure from the Social Insurance Fund, the Occupational Injuries and "Wet-Time" Funds and certain expenses incurred by other Departments in the administration of our services. The total for the current year then comes to more than £115 million, which is a very substantial expenditure indeed.
As I have already said, the amount to be voted this year is nearly £73 million. This is £13,380,000 more than the total voted, including Supplementary Estimates, for 1969-70. The main reason for the increase is, of course, the cost of the 1970 Budget improvements which included increases in payment rates and the introduction of new services. In addition, extra cost arises from the fact that the 1969 Budget increases operated for the whole of the current year as against part of the year 1969-70 and, finally, there is a continuing upward trend in the numbers qualifying under the various schemes.
Deputies may be interested in the progress of new social welfare schemes introduced during the year. The new scheme of social assistance allowances for deserted wives came into operation on the 1st October, 1970. The allowance is payable to a woman who has been deserted by her husband, is under 70 years of age, or, if under 50 years, has at least one qualified child, satisfies a means test and a simple residence test. The scheme generally is modelled on the scheme of non-contributory widows' pensions, the rates of the weekly payment and the means tests being the same under both schemes. The conditions which must be satisfied before a woman can be regarded as having been deserted by her husband have been laid down in regulations. The scheme is designed to deal with cases of well-established desertions when the wife is unable to obtain any support from her husband. Further, it provides primarily for deserted wives with families and those who by reason of age cannot readily obtain employment.
My Department has, so far, received a total of some 1,850 claims for deserted wife's allowance of which approximately 1,150 were successful and some 400 were rejected for one reason or another—means in excess of the statutory limit, failure to satisfy the prescribed conditions concerning desertion or being under 50 years of age and not having a qualified child residing with her. As I said, when the Social Welfare Bill was before the Dáil last year, it was originally intended that the new allowance would cover only mothers of families which had been deserted, and elderly deserted wives without dependent children, who may find it difficult because of their age to obtain employment. However, the operation of the scheme is being kept under review with a view to its improvement in any way which experience may indicate is desirable. I have particularly in mind the question of the qualifying age limit of a deserted wife without a dependent child.
The retirement pensions scheme for insured persons who have reached age 65, who satisfy prescribed contribution conditions and who have retired from employment, also came into operation on 1st October, 1970. The contribution conditions are similar to the conditions governing the old age (contributory) pension scheme but are applicable at an age five years younger. The scheme allows a pensioner although retired from full employment to engage in noninsurable employment, for example self-employment or employment of inconsiderable extent. For persons aged 70 or over no restriction in regard to engaging in employment applies.
Some 5,000 retirement pension claims have been received to date, of which almost 3,000 were successful. About 550 claims were rejected because of failure to satisfy the contribution conditions and in 750 cases it was found to be more advantageous financially for the claimant to continue claiming one of the other benefits available to him.
Invalidity pension is payable to an insured person who is permanently incapable of work and who satisfies the contribution conditions. The rate of invalidity pension is the same as the standard rate of disability benefit and increases are allowed in respect of an adult dependant and children up to the age of 18 years. The number of persions to whom invalidity pensions have been awarded since 1st October, 1970, when the scheme came into operation is over 12,000.
Deputies may have recently seen an announcement in the newspapers that the European Code of Social Security was ratified on behalf of the Government. The Code is an international instrument which was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1964 with the object of setting higher standards of social security protection than those set by the 1952 International Labour Convention concerning Minimum Standards of Social Security, which has also been ratified by Ireland.
Under the Code the prescribed standards of protection are of two kinds: benefits must be available to prescribed classes constituting a minimum percentage of employees or residents and the levels of benefits must be not less than defined minimum standards. For ratification, compliance with minimum standards is required in at least six branches of social security. Ireland has accepted the obligations of the provisions of the Code relating to sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old age benefit—which counts as the equivalent of three branches—family benefit and survivors' benefit. We are the eighth of the seventeen member countries of the Council of Europe to ratify the Code, the others which have already ratified it being Belgium, Britain, Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
