HC Deb 31 March 1938 vol 333 c2197W
Mr. Sexton

asked the Minister of Health what fraction of the total contributions paid by insured persons, the employers, and the Government is required to cover the cost of paying the pensions, including the administrative costs, under the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act?

Sir K. Wood

The whole of the contributions of insured persons, their employers and the Exchequer is required to meet the cost of pensions (including the cost of administration). The function of the Exchequer in relation to the scheme is to preserve its solvency, and the contributions which the Act imposes on the Exchequer until the year 1945–46 are, in effect, annual instalments, on a rising scale, of the amount estimated to be required down to that year to make good the difference between the receipts from the contributions of insured persons and their employers and the expenditure on pensions.