Mrs. Butlerasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he will ensure that adequate publicity is given to the requirement that claimants for sickness benefit must claim within six days, in order to avoid loss of benefit through ignorance of the regulations.
§ Mr. WoodYes. Amending regulations designed to give effect to the relaxation in the time limit have not yet been reported on by the National Insurance Advisory Committee. Before such regulations can come into operation, sickness benefit leaflets, posters and display cards for doctors' surgeries drawing attention to the relaxation will have been widely distributed. All these documents and the medical certificates on which the great majority of claims are made will continue to include a clear and prominent warning that benefit may be lost if claims are made late.