§ 11. Viscount WOLMERasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it has been decided by the Insurance Commissioners, under the National Insurance Act, that the employer of an insured person who is employed for four hours every day by him, and not otherwise employed, and who is paid 12s. per week, should affix stamps to the value of 3d. per week on the ground that the employed person might be employed eight hours and therefore earning 24s. a week, or whether the employer is to affix stamps to the value of 4d. insomuch as the employed person is not in fact earning more than 12s. a week?
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§ Mr. MASTERMANThe Commissioners are advised that questions arising under the provisions of the National Insurance Act relating to low wages should be determined in cases of part-time employments by reference not to the actual earnings, but to the amount which the contributors would earn by working full time in the particular employment. In the case referred to by the Noble Lord it would accordingly be held that the rate of remuneration of a woman working four hours a day and earning 2s. in an employment in which the normal working day exceeds four hours is more than 2s. a working day. The correct rate of contribution would, therefore, be 6d., of which the employer would be entitled to recover 3d. by deduction from wages.