§ Sir J. NALLasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware of the practice whereby a claim to widows' pensions or contributory old age pensions is disallowed owing to the failure of an employer to stamp the cards at the prescribed dates, and notwithstanding that the employer is liable for the whole of the arrears of contributions in due course; and whether. in such cases, following the payment of the full amount of arrears, he will authorise a grant of pension?
1846Win receipt of public assistance in Lancashire for each of the four weeks ended 30th January, 1932, and for the corresponding four weeks in 1931, giving the amount paid each week?
Sir H. YOUNGThe following statement shows the number of persons in receipt of poor relief (excluding casuals and persons in receipt of domiciliary medical relief only) in the county of Lancashire (including the 17 county boroughs) on certain days in January, 1932, and on the corresponding days in January, 1931:
Sir H. YOUNGAs regards the first part of the question, the statutory conditions for pensions under the Contributory Pensions Acts require that a specified number of contributions should have been paid before the date on which title to pension arises. As regards the second part, Regulations made under the Acts provide that contributions due in respect of a period of from 12 to 18 month before the pension date shall rank as valid contributions, although they were not paid until after that date, and in certain circumstances late paid contributions due in respect of the preceding 12 months ate also made valid. I am afraid that I cannot adopt the suggestion of my hon. Friend, for any further extension of this concession might have a very adverse effect on the income of the Pensions Fund, as it would offer some inducement to employers to refrain from paying contributions until they were actually required to make good a pensions claim.