The Joint Committee have also had under consideration matters referred to in other Sections of this Report, such as the financial arrangements which will be consequent upon the proposed excusing, under the National Health Insurance Bill now before Parliament, of arrears arising from genuine unemployment and the increase of the maximum allowable expenditure on administration by Approved Societies, rendered necessary by the additional work thrown on the Societies by the Pensions Act. APPEALS UNDER THE CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS ACT. No changes have been made in the arrangements, set out in earlier Reports, for the determination of appeals under the Contributory Pensions Act. In November, 1927, a précis of a number of decisions by the Referees was published in book form and copies can be obtained from His Majesty's Stationery Office. The following statistics relate to the year ending on March 31, 1928: : National Health Insurance and Pensions Accounts and Statistics. Abstracts of certain accounts and statistics relating to National Health Insurance are given in Appendices XVII to XXII (pages 270 to 285). The National Health Insurance Fund Accounts for the year ended on 31st December, 1926, have been published as a Parliamentary Paper (H.C. 40 of 1928). A return of Approved Societies' and Insurance Committees' receipts and payments for the year ended on the 31st December, 1925, has also been published as a Parliamentary Paper (Cmd. 3077). The first account under the Contributory Pensions Act for the period from 4th January, 1926, to 31st March, 1927 (including Treasury Pensions Account, Pensions Account and Pensions (Scotland) Account), has been published as a Parliamentary Paper (H.C. 42 of 1928). A statement showing the estimated receipts and payments of the Pensions Account for the year ended on the 31st March, 1928 (subdivided approximately between England and Wales) is given in Appendix XXII (page 285). The approximate number of contributors under the Contributory Pensions Act on the 31st December, 1927, is included in Appendix XIX (page 281). Classes of Persons liable to Insurance. GENERAL. Although no change in the statutory definition of insurable employment has been made during the year under review, there has continued to be a vast number of inquiries concerning the insurability of particular persons, whose interest in the insurance schemes is stimulated by the fact that prospective rights to pensions, as well as to health insurance benefits, are at stake. Thus, apart from the great majority of cases which are decided informally, the number of questions submitted for formal decision under Section 89 of the National Health Insurance Act has been 167, compared with 19 in the previous year. Of these, 140 were given in connexion with appeals against the rejection of claims for pensions under the Contributory Pensions Act in cases where the insurability of the deceased husband or of the claimant for an old age pension was a material issue in the Seven decisions were given on questions referred to the Minister under Section 97 (4) by a Court of Summary Jurisdiction in the course of proceedings for non-compliance with the Insurance Act. The remaining decisions were given either as a preliminary to such proceedings or in cases where an informal ruling was not appropriate for settling the point at issue. In 30 cases of a specially difficult character it was necessary to hold hearings in various parts of the country, for the purpose of obtaining oral evidence in support of written particulars already received. Details of decisions on points of general interest are being published in collected form. The enhanced interest in insurance matters is also illustrated by the number of applications for admission to voluntary insurance, not only from those who are entitled to become voluntary contributors on passing beyond the limits of compulsory insurance, but also from persons who are not entitled, either because they failed to apply within the time when the option was open to them or because they have never possessed the requisite insurance qualifications. The, number of voluntary contributors in England is now estimated at 195,000, as compared with 166,000 last year. A fresh ground of title to voluntary insurance, namely that of an uninsured man to become a voluntary contributor on marrying an insured woman for whom at least 104 contributions have been paid under the Contributory Pensions Act, became effective during the year, owing to the fact that this number of contributions could be paid by the 26th December, 1927. Accordingly, many women marrying after that date are able to confer on their husbands, if not already insured, the right of participating in the combined scheme of health insurance and pensions. CERTIFICATES OF EXCEPTION FROM NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ISSUED TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES, ETC. During the year under review nine certificates were issued to Local Authorities whose employees receive payments in sickness and disablement at least as favourable as the corresponding health insurance benefits, and six further certificates were issued in substitution for existing certificates which required revision on technical grounds. The total number of persons excepted under the new certificates is approximately 450 men and 250 women, or 700 in all. On the other hand six certificates ceased to operate owing to such causes as variations in the terms of employment or the termination of the employments in respect of which they were issued. These certificates covered some 600 persons (400 men and 200 women). The position under the Contributory Pensions Act of persons engaged in excepted employment has been dealt with in an earlier passage of this Report (page 178 above). EXEMPT PERSONS. The number of persons holding certificates of exemption on the 31st March, 1928, was 19,659, of whom 11,297 had their certificates applied to unemployment insurance. The corresponding figures for the 31st March, 1927, were 23,084 and 13,115, respectively. The reduction in numbers is similar to that which occurred in the previous year and is due partly to the continued tendency on the part of exempt men to surrender their certificates of exemption in order to become insured for old age pensions, and partly to the lowering of the insurance age limit as from the 2nd January, 1928, from 70 to 65. CONTRIBUTIONS FOR EMPLOYED PERSONS OVER 65, ETC. As from the 2nd January, 1928, the ordinary health insurance and pensions contributions ceased to be payable for employed persons on attaining the age of 65 (instead of 70 as hitherto), but employers were required to pay pensions contributions at the rate of 9d. per week (7d. in the case of women) for all persons aged 65 and upwards who were insurably employed, without any upper limit of age. These contributions are equal in amount to the employer's share of the ordinary combined contributions, so that the incidence of contributions upon employers is not affected by the employee's age and does not afford any inducement to give preference for employment to persons under or over the insurance age limit. By arrangement with the Ministry of Labour these contributions are payable, together with the corresponding unemployment insurance contributions, on joint cards which are sent in most cases direct to the employed persons by the Ministry of Health and are returnable to the Ministry on expiry. Approximately 511,000 of these cards were issued up to the 31st March, 1928. Cards are also available at Post Offices for use in the case of any employed persons over 65 who for some reason do not receive cards from the Ministry. In addition, the special employer's contributions are payable for persons (mainly police pensioners) who have retired from excepted employment of the class which is totally excluded from pensions insurance as well as from health insurance and who are on that account debarred from becoming insured persons in respect of other employment taken up after retirement on superannuation, unless they were already insured persons or holders of exemption certificates at the inception of the Contributory Pensions Act (i.e., the 4th January, 1926). Particulars of these pensioners were obtained from the authorities paying their pensions, and, in cases where they were found on inquiry not to have been insured or exempt at the 4th January, 1926, joint cards were issued to them. for use by their employers if and when they were insurably employed. Some 6,000 cards were so issued up to the 31st March, 1928. CONTRIBUTIONS FOR FOREIGN-DOMICILED SEAMEN IN THE MERCANTILE MARINE. The amounts of the employers' contributions for health and unemployment insurance received by the Department in the last few years in respect of seamen neither domiciled nor resident in the United Kingdom are shown below: As mentioned in last year's Report, the rate of the employer's contribution for health insurance was reduced by one halfpenny weekly as from the 1st January, 1927, in respect of employment on foreign-going ships. The full effect of the reduction is, however, not reflected in the figures given above, which show the receipts in the respective years and not the total amounts due for those years, i.e., the figures for 1927 include certain contributions for 1926 paid at the rate appropriate to 1926, but do not include contributions for 1927 which were outstanding at the end of the year. The total amount (excluding interest) received up to the end of 1927 is £776,476, of which £470,882 is in respect of unemployment insurance. INSURANCE OF OUTWORKERS. The number of employers of outworkers in England who use the unit system (i.e., the method of paying contributions according to the amount of work done instead of on the ordinary weekly basis), again shows a slight increase since the preceding year and is now 968 as compared with 944 in March, 1927, and 931 in March, 1926. No change has been necessary in the amounts of the units of work in operation for the various trades. International Labour Conference. During May and June, 1927, the International Labour Conference of the League of Nations, held at Geneva, adopted draft conventions concerning compulsory schemes of sickness insurance for (i) workers in industry and commerce and domestic servants, and (ii) agricultural workers. These conventions, which, with a recommendation concerning the general principles of sickness insurance, have been published as a Parliamentary paper (Cmd. 2961) follow closely the proposals made on behalf of the British Government. An amendment to the National Health Insurance Act, 1924, will, however, be required in order to give effect to one of the recommendations adopted by the Conference. This recommendation is to the effect that the sickness benefit payable in respect of an insured person who is maintained in an institution shall in all cases be paid in whole or part to his dependants, and provision for giving effect to it has been included in the National Health Insurance Bill of the present Session. A report to the Minister of Labour by the British Government Delegates to the Conference has also been published (Cmd. 2995). Amending Legislation. The National Health Insurance Bill was introduced into Parliament on the 5th March, 1928. Its provisions are based mainly on the Majority Report of the Royal Commission on National |