I move: —
That a sum not exceeding £330,000 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, 1962, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare.
It is customary to take the three Estimates for the Department of Social Welfare together. I propose, therefore, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle and of the House, to deal with the Estimates as a group. My statement will cover the three Votes which are: —
No. 51 — Office of the Minister for Social Welfare.
No. 52 — Social Insurance, and
No. 53 — Social Assistance.
It will be open to Deputies to raise points on any of the three Votes in the subsequent discussion.
The separate amounts being sought from the Exchequer for 1961-62 on the three Estimates are as follows: —
Vote 51—Office of the Minister for Social Welfare |
£ 494,900 |
Vote 52—Social Insurance |
£6,358,000 |
Vote 53—Social Assistance, |
£18,926,000 |
The total of these is £25,778,900. I shall deal briefly with the three Estimates in sequence.
In the Estimate for the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare a net sum of £494,900 is provided to meet the salaries and other administration expenses borne on the Vote. The main variations, as compared with the previous year's Vote, are a decrease of £20,000 for salaries and wages under Subhead A, an increase of £48,340 for Insured Persons' Medical Certificates under Subhead C and an increase of £41,470 under the Appropriations in Aid Subhead.
The provision of £1,252,000 for salaries and wages under Subhead A shows a decrease of £20,000 on the previous year's provision. The total amount of the decrease on the Subhead would have been about £36,000 but for a new provision in this year's Estimate of £16,000 to cover the remuneration of staff for the Old Age (Contributory) Pensions Section.
The increase under Subhead C of £48,340 on last year's provision of £114,720 for Insured Persons' Medical Certificates is due to an increase in the fees payable to medical certifiers in respect of certificates issued on or after 1st October last.
As regards the Appropriations in Aid Subhead, as Deputies are aware all the expenses incurred by the Department in administering the scheme of social insurance are repayable by the Social Insurance Fund and are brought to credit of this Vote as Appropriations in Aid. The increase of £41,470 in the estimated receipts to the subhead is largely the result of the increased cost of insured persons' medical certificates already mentioned, which, as an expense of administration of the insurance scheme, is recoverable from the Social Insurance Fund.
The Estimate of £6,358,000 for Social Insurance for 1961-62 is £1,691,000 greater than the Vote for 1960-61 when the Supplementary Estimate of £412,000 in 1960-61 is taken into account. The increase of £2,103,000 shown in the Estimate Volume is not now correct. The Volume was printed before the Supplementary Estimate was passed.
The increase of £1,691,000 occurs on Subhead A of the Estimate. In that subhead provision is made for payment by the Exchequer into the Social Insurance Fund of the estimated amount by which the expenditure of the Fund will exceed its income in 1961-62. The estimated amount is £6,321,000.
The estimated expenditure of the Fund in 1961-62 is £17,336,000 made up as follows: —
£ |
|
Old Age (Contributory) Pensions |
4,660,000 |
Disability Benefit |
4,746,000 |
Widows' and Orphans' (Contributory) Pensions |
3,179,000 |
Unemployment Benefit |
2,825,000 |
Treatment Benefit |
334,000 |
Maternity Benefits |
130,000 |
Marriage Grant |
76,000 |
Administration |
1,386,000 |
TOTAL |
17,336,000 |
The estimated income of the Social Insurance Fund in 1961-62 is £11,015,000. It consists of £10,288,000 from employment contributions, £612,000 in income from investments of the Fund and £115,000 in receipts under Reciprocal Arrangements.
The Exchequer contribution to the Fund for 1961-62 under Subhead A is £1,691,000 more than the corresponding provision for 1960-61. This is the net result of variations in the items constituting the expenditure and income of the Fund.
On the expenditure side, the main increases are £3,620,000 on Old Age (Contributory) Pensions, £867,000 on Widows' and Orphans' (Contributory) Pensions, £337,000 on Disability Benefit, £142,000 on Unemployment Benefit and £58,000 on Administration Costs.
The main variation on the income side is an additional sum of £3,338,000 from employment contributions.
The increases on benefit expenditure in 1961-62, as compared with 1960-61, are almost entirely due to the new Old Age (Contributory) Pensions and the increased rates and improvements in the other benefits effected by the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1960, which became operative from 2nd January, 1961. The aggregate increases of approximately £5,000,000 under these heads in 1961-62, as compared with 1960-61, represent the difference in estimated cost for the whole of 1961-62 as compared with the provision for the March quarter of 1960-61.
The estimated total cost for 1961-62 of the Old Age (Contributory) Pensions and the increases in rates and improvements in the other benefits amounts to approximately £6,956,000, of which £4,660,000 is in respect of Old Age (Contributory) Pensions.
The estimated increase from employment contributions in 1961-62 due to the increases in the contribution rates which became effective on 2nd January, 1961 and to increased employment is £4,288,000.
As regards Social Assistance, the net provision of £18,926,000 for this Estimate in 1961-62 shows a decrease of £2,428,000 on the previous year's Vote of £21,354,000. Of this decrease, £2,300,000 arises on the Old Age Pensions Subhead and £115,000 on the provision for Unemployment Assistance.
The decrease of £2,300,000 on the Old Age Pensions Subhead is mainly due to a reduction of nearly 40,000 in the number of non-contributory old age pensioners because of their becoming eligible for contributory old age pensions or contributory widows' pensions under the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1960. The decrease would have been greater but for the cost of the increased rates of pension and other improvements under the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1960, which took effect from the beginning of August, 1960 and cost £489,000 and also a slight upward trend in the number of pensioners which accounted for £67,000.
The estimate for Unemployment Assistance for the current financial year is £115,000 lower than the vote for this service in 1960-61. The beneficiaries under this service also received increases in assistance rates and other improvements effected by the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1960, estimated to cost £132,000 in the current year. Owing to the continued improvement in the unemployment position, however, the provision of £1,110,000 for the current year covers this extra cost of £132,000 as well as allowing for the decrease of £115,000 on the vote for this service last year.