§ S.E.T. is of course collected through the National Insurance stamp, and its increase will thus necessitate new stamps. We propose at the same time to make small increases in contributions to the Redundancy Fund, which are collected by the same means. Payments from this Fund have continued to run at a higher rate than receipts to the Fund, and an increase in contributions is required not only to 287 meet the higher level of payments but to discharge the indebtedness to the Exchequer which the Fund has been incurring. It is proposed that the employers' contribution should be increased by 2d. a week for men and by 1d. a week for women with effect from 2nd September, 1968. This is not, strictly, a budgetary matter for the contributions go into the Redundancy Fund not into the Consolidated Fund. But it becomes a budgetary matter if through improvident finance we allow a deficit to accumulate. It is, however, proper to announce it now, since the introduction of these increases in these contributions will coincide with the introduction of the increase in S.E.T.
§ The net proceeds of the changes in S.E.T. bring the total additional revenue to the Consolidated Fund resulting from my proposals so far to £592 million for a full year and £548 million in 1968–69, which would bring the Central Government borrowing requirement next year down to £581 million.