HC Deb 30 November 1911 vol 32 cc730-4

In the application of this Part of this Act to masters, seamen, and apprentices to the sea service and the sea fishing service the following provisions shall have effect:—

  1. (1) Neither sickness benefit nor disablement benefit shall be paid to a master, seaman, or apprentice suffering from any disease or disablement in respect of any period during which the owner of the ship is under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, as amended by any subsequent enactment or otherwise, liable to defray the expense of the necessary surgical and medical advice and attendance and medicine, and of his maintenance, but for the purpose of calculating the rate and duration of sickness benefit such benefit shall be deemed to have been paid from the commencement of the disease or disablement until the determination of such liability as aforesaid, and he shall not be entitled to medical benefit during such period:
  2. (2) In the case of masters, seamen, and apprentices serving on a foreign-going ship or a ship engaged in regular trade on foreign stations, the employed rate and the employers' contributions shall each be reduced by one penny a week, and every four weekly contributions paid in any calendar year by a master, seaman, or apprentice whilst serving on such a ship shall, for the purposes of determining the number of contributions to be paid by him in that year and for the purposes of calculating arrears, be treated as five such contributions:
Provided that—
  1. (a) nothing in this provision shall affect the number of em- 731 ployer's contributions to be paid in respect of such a master, seaman, or apprentice, but no employer's contributions payable in respect of any week in respect of which no contribution is payable by the master, seaman, or apprentice shall be taken into account in reckoning the amount of his arrears;
  2. (b) there shall be credited to the approved society of which the master, seaman, or apprentice is a member, or if he is a deposit contributor to his account in the Post Office fund, a sum equal to two-fifths of the amount of the contributions actually paid in respect of him, and an equal sum shall be treated as having been expended on sickness benefit, and the proper proportion thereof shall accordingly be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament:
 (3) A master, seaman, or apprentice who is neither domiciled nor has a place of residence in the United Kingdom shall not be deemed to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, but the employer shall be liable to pay the same contributions in respect of him as would otherwise have been payable by him as employer's contributions, except in cases where the ship is engaged in regular trade on foreign stations: (4) The Board of Trade shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, cause a society to be formed, to be called the Seamen's National Insurance Society of which any masters, seamen, and apprentices to the sea service and the sea fishing service who are employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act shall be entitled to become members, but nothing in this Section shall prevent any such person joining another approved society instead of the society so formed: (5) The affairs of the Seamen's National Insurance Society shall be managed by a committee constituted in accordance with a scheme to be prepared by the Board of Trade with the approval of the Insurance Commissioners, comprising representatives of the Board of Trade, of ship-owners, and of members of the society in equal proportions, and the society shall, notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act, become an approved society: (6) All contributions paid by employers in respect of masters, seamen, or apprentices who are neither domiciled nor have a place of residence in the United Kingdom, and consequently deemed not to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, shall be credited to the Seamen's National Insurance Society: (7) In addition to medical, sanatorium, sickness, disablement, and maternity benefits, members of the Seamen's National Insurance Society shall be entitled to such other benefits as may be provided under a scheme to be prepared by the committee of management, with the approval of the Board of Trade and the Insurance Commissioners, and such other benefits shall include pensions for masters and seamen with long sea service, and the scheme may provide for preference being given to masters and seamen who have served in foreign-going ships or ships engaged in foreign trade over those who have served in the coasting and home-trade ships, and such preference may be proportionate to the length of time spent in the first-mentioned service: Provided that, in the case of the transfer of a member of the society to another approved society, the transfer value payable in respect of him shall be calculated with reference to the liabilities of the society for benefits other than such pensions as aforesaid: (8) The rules of the Seamen's National Insurance Society shall provide for allowing a member who leaves the sea service and is unable to obtain admission to another approved society on account of the state of his health to continue a member of the Seamen's National Insurance Society for the purposes of this Part of this Act, and the rules of that society may provide that a member of the society who has fulfilled the conditions entitling him to such pension as aforesaid shall not be deprived of his right to the pension by reason only that he has ceased to be a member of the society at the time when the pension first becomes payable or ceases so to be at any subsequent time: (9) Where a master, seaman, or apprentice is at the commencement of this Act a member of a society which becomes an approved society he may, if that society and the Seamen's National Insurance Society so agree, continue to be a member of the first-mentioned society for the purposes of benefits under this Part of this Act other than pension, and becomes a member of the last-mentioned society for the purposes of pension only, and in such case the balance of the contributions payable in respect of him (after deducting the sums to be retained by the Insurance Commissioners towards discharging their liabilities in respect of reserve values) shall be divided between the two societies in such proportion as they may agree: (10) Expressions in this section have the same meaning as in the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1907, and the expression "ship engaged in regular trade on foreign stations" means a ship engaged regularly in trade between ports outside the British Islands when trading between such ports, but for the purposes of this provision a ship shall not be deemed not to be engaged in such a trade by reason only that she puts into a port in the United Kingdom for the purpose of survey or repair.

Amendments made: In Sub-section (2) leave out the letter "a" ["on a foreign going ship"].

Leave out the words "ship or a ship" and insert the words "ships or ships."

In paragraph (a) leave out the word "payable" ["contributions payable"] and insert instead the word "paid."

In Sub-section (a) leave out the word "becomes" ["becomes a member"] and insert instead thereof the word "become."

At end of Sub-section (10) add, (11) The provisions of this Part of this Act affecting the employed rate and the rates of contributions of employers and contributors in Ireland, and depriving insured persons in Ireland of medical benefit, shall not apply to any such master, seaman, or apprentice unless he has a permanent place of residence in Ireland and is not a member of the Seamen's National Insurance Society; and, in the case of a master, seaman, or apprentice serving on a foreign-going chip or a ship engaged in foreign trade to whom such provisions do apply the amount by which the employed rate and the employer's contributions are to be reduced shall be one halfpenny a week. (11) Members of the Seamen's National Insurance Society shall for the purposes of this Part of this Act be deemed to reside in England, and the medical benefit and sanatorium benefit of such members shall be administered by the society instead of by the local health committee, and the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the administration of those benefits shall apply accordingly subject to such modifications as may be prescribed.—[Mr. Lloyd George.]