§ 45. Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what progress he has made in respect of earlier retirement schemes for miners and other workers whereby signing on at employment exchanges is creating financial and unnecessary difficulties.
§ Mr. OrmeIf a person who has retired early nevertheless wishes to claim unemployment benefit, he must satisfy the normal procedures regarding availability and registration for work. It would be difficult to justify different treatment for one group of claimants solely on the ground that they had retired early from their previous employment. Where in particular cases weekly attendance would clearly cause hardship, for example because of severe disablement, easements are made to the normal registration conditions. If my hon. Friend knows of any such cases, I shall be glad to look into them.