Earl of DALKEITHasked the Minister of Labour if his attention has been called to the hardship on many men connected with the building trade in respect of the refusal of refund of contributions under the Insurance Acts unless they have attained the age of 50 on 7th July; how many men, having paid since the start of the scheme in 1912, are thus debarred from benefiting by refunds, although they may be in urgent need of help: what happens in the case of those men who have been contributors since the inception of the Act but have died before reaching the age of 50; and whether he will give, approximately, the number of men who have paid under the Act of 1912 to date but who have not yet reached the age of 50?
§ Mr. SHAWI presume the reference is to the provision in the Unemployment 577W Insurance Act of August last abolishing for the future certain refunds previously payable to persons who had reached the ago of 60 and allowing compensation to persons of the age of 50 or over for the loss of their prospective rights. It is clear that no immediate hardship is caused to persons under the age of 50 at 7th July last, as their previous right to a refund could not have matured till they reached the age of 60; and that the dependants of persons who died before they reached the age of 60 could not have obtained a refund in any event and are therefore in no way prejudiced by the Act. Persons under 50 at 7th July are not entitled to compensation for the loss of their prospective rights. The reason for this is that the amount of compensation is based on the estimated present worth of these prospective rights, which in individual cases were liable to fail to mature owing to a number of causes, and the Department is advised that in the case of persons under 50 no material present worth can be assigned. I regret that the figures asked for in the last part of the question are not available.