§ 72. Mr. Hamiltonasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he is aware that boys of over 15 years of age, who have insufficient stamps on their cards and then become unemployed, cannot claim either unemployment benefit or National Assistance; and what steps he intends to take to remedy this injustice.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterAs unemployment benefit is an insurance benefit, payment of it is dependent in all cases on compliance with the contribution conditions. The minimum age for making independent application for National Assistance was fixed at 16 by Section 7 (5) of the National Assistance Act, 1948. Children under that age would be included as dependants in any grant of Assistance for which their parents might be eligible. I have no proposals for legislation on this subject.