§ The wife of an insured person shall be allowed to earn up to 40s. a week without reduction of the benefit payable to her husband or to her by virtue of her husband's insurance where the husband is in receipt of benefit on account of sickness or disability and is dependent upon her.—[Mr. Pannell.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ Mr. PannellI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
I hope that my right hon. Friend will find herself able to accept this proposal too. It appears that while the new legislation proposes to permit pensioners to earn larger sums without affecting their pensions, it does not permit working wives to earn similar amounts without affecting the sickness benefit of a disabled husband. The purpose of this Clause is to allow a wife whose husband is totally dependent on her to earn up to £2, as a pensioner would, without affecting the sickness benefit. This arose because a constituent wrote to me, and the case is a typical one. This man has been unable to work since 1948. His wife works part-time as an office cleaner and gets £2, less 4s. insurance, and now will be allowed to earn only £1. Her husband cannot now claim the 16s. dependant's allowance. His present income is 26s. insurance and 3s. from the friendly society. I have no doubt that he is the very best type of person to get this benefit. He has been a member of my union for 35 years, and all his benefits are exhausted.
I appreciate that the Clause, as drafted, does not stipulate in words that it is meant for the chronically sick. I am not trying to put the case for a man who is sick only for a week or two. This proposal is confined to the narrow point where a husband is chronically sick and dependent on his wife. This extension of benefit is intended for the man who probably will not work again.
§ Dr. SummerskillI have a great deal of sympathy with the object of this Clause. I was pleased to hear my hon. Friend say that he appreciated that it was perhaps drawn in a way which might be misinterpreted, and I am sure he will understand that if I accepted the Clause as drafted, there might be repercussions on the provisions relating to unemployment benefit. I fully recognise that the wife of a chronically sick man, who goes out to work, is in a special position. At the moment, she is allowed to earn only £1, and over that the reduction is made. I am quite prepared to consider putting her in the position of the widows and old-age pensioners who are allowed to earn £2, but I ask my hon. Friend to let me draft the Clause, and I can make it clear that this will relate only to the chronically sick case.
§ Mr. PannellI beg to ask leave to withdraw the Motion.
§ Motion and Clause, by leave, with drawn.
§ Schedule agreed to.
§ Bill reported, with Amendments; as amended, to be considered Tomorrow, and to be printed. [Bill 114.]