§ Mr. ALDENasked whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer was aware of the fact that if a member of a friendly society over seventy years of age who is not in certified illness, and therefore not receiving any benefits, applies for a pension, the amount of his contribution is not allowed for in calculating his income, although when in receipt of sick pay the authorities allow as abatement the amount he has to contribute for such benefit; and, if so, whether he can take any steps to remedy this state of affairs?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The payments in question are of the nature of insurance premiums and do not, under the provisions of the Old Age Pensions Act, constitute legitimate deductions in calculating a claimant's general means. When, however, the insurer is actually in receipt of a benefit, the value of the benefit has to be ascertained, and that value is clearly less than the gross amount received by the amount 348 of any payment he has to make as a condition of receiving it. Therefore I do not think that there is any anomaly in the existing practice.
§ Mr. ALDENasked whether in any Amendment of the Old Age pensions Act. 1908, now under the consideration of the Treasury, provision is being made to meet the repeated demands of friendly societies that sick pay and distress gift grants receivable by a member may be exempt from being taken into consideration as ordinary income of a person who is applying for a pension under the Act?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe special difficulty in regard to the exemption asked for by my hon. Friend lies in the practical impossibility of distinguishing between different forms of thrift, such as the sick pay and distress grants given by friendly societies on the one hand, and on the other receipts from deposits in building societies or in savings banks, etc. I am afraid that in these circumstances I could not meet the wishes of the friendly societies without increasing the cost of old age pensions to an alarming extent.