§ Mr. Woodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total of national insurance contributions from the self-employed in 1973–74; and what are the expected totals in 1974–75 and 1975–76 respectively.
§ Mr. O'MalleyExcluding National Health Service contributions, the estimated amounts are as follows:
£ million 1973–74 124 1974–75 155 1975–76* 198 * At rates in the Social Security Amendment Bill now before Parliament
§ Mr. Woodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total national insurance contributions from women and their employers during the year 1973–74; and what would be the total, for a full year from the introduction of equal pay, if these contributions were at the same rate as for men.
§ Mr. Alec JonesIn 1973–74, employed women and their employers paid £780 million in national insurance contribu-88W tions, excluding the National Health Service contribution, the redundancy fund contribution, and the Exchequer supplement. Of this, £325 million was paid by way of graduated contributions, and so would have been directly affected by equal pay; it is not possible, however, to estimate the effect which equal pay would have had on contribution income for that year. Rates of graduated contributions are already the same for men and women. If rates of flat-rate contributions for fully contributing employed women had been the same as for employed men, the above £780 million would have been increased to £860 million. If, in addition, the married women's option had been abolished, it would have been further increased to £990 million.
§ Mr. Woodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the total of the increase to the National Insurance Fund in contributions, for a full year from the introduction of equal pay, if the national insurance stamp for women were the same rate as for men, and they continued to insure until the age of 65 years.
§ Mr. Alec JonesFrom April 1975, national insurance contribution rates will be the same for all fully-contributing employees, whether male or female. Class 1 contributions due in 1975–76, excluding the National Health Service and redundancy fund contributions and the Exchequer supplement, would have been increased by something of the order of £75 million if women's retiring age had been increased from 60 to 65, assuming that this change had become fully effective—that is, had been introduced at least five years earlier—and that very few defer their retirement beyond age 65. This costing is based on the illustrative assumption in the Government Actuary's White Paper on the Social Security Benefits Bill (Cmnd 5788) that the average earnings of all employees would increase at the rate of 17½ per cent. per annum from November 1974. It is not possible to estimate what effect implementation of equal pay by April 1975 would have had on this broad costing. If, in addition, married women were not allowed to opt out of contribution liability, this £75 million costing would become about £240 million.