WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION (No. 2) BILL. (Hansard, 19 November 1926)

§ Captain HACKING

I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

This Bill seeks to amend Sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1925. This particular Subsection at present provides that a workman who meets with an accident when he is under 21 years of age may apply for an increase in the amount of his compensation on the basis of what he would have been earning on the date of the review had he remained uninjured. There were two provisos in that connection. The first was that the review should take place not less than six months after the accident, and the second that it should take place before the man bad reached the age of 21. The object of that provision is quite clear, namely, that a youth who was injured should have the opportunity of review in order that, when he reached his full earning capacity, he should have his weekly compensation increased on the basis of the adult standard. It has been represented to the Home Secretary by deputation and other- wise that this two-fold requirement has created certain hardships. I will illustrate the effect of the Sub-section as it now stands. If a youth is injured before he reaches 21—within five months of reaching 21—it is impossible for him to comply with both provisions. He cannot have a review for six months after his injury; he then is over 21 years of age. The second proviso says he must have a review immediately he reaches 21, and not later. The object of this Bill is to do away with that hardship, which makes it impossible for men of a certain age to get that review which it is necessary they should have in their own interest.

This Bill effects the remedy. I may add that the National Confederation of 2150 Employers' Organisations and the General Council of the Trade Union Congress were consulted during the summer months, and both bodies agree with the proposal contained in this Bill, and they suggest that immediate legislation should be effected in the terms of this Bill. There is a certain amount of urgency in this Bill, because of the hardships which are being created under the old Section, and I would suggest to the House that, if it meets with their approval, but not otherwise, we should take all the stages of this Bill at once, although, of course, I do not intend to press that upon the House if there is any objection to it at all. There is nothing in the Bill except the correction of this hardship, and I hope the House at any rate will give it a Second Reading now, and that I may be allowed to take all stages immediately.

§ Mr. RHYS DAVIES

It is not my purpose to speak on the objects of the Measure, but I want to say, on behalf of my colleagues and myself on this side, that we welcome this Bill and trust that it will be possible for the House to, pass the Measure through all its stages to-day The hon. and gallant Gentleman who has moved the Second Reading has explained the difficulties that have arisen in connection with the administration of the last Workmen-s Compensation Act. As a matter of fact, the difficulties have been not only in connection with the working of trade union administration in this connection, but the solicitors and the courts of the land who have had to deal with this Section have found themselves in difficult positions, and I have no hesitation at all in saying, from my knowledge of the provisions of the last Workmen's Compensation Act and of the proposals now before the House, that these proposals will undoubtedly remove hardships, not in a few cases, but really in very many cases within my own ken. I, therefore, support the Bill, and trust that we shall be able to pass it through all its stages to-day.