§ Mr. Longdenasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many people were drawing retirement pensions and National Assistance, respectively, in 1950 and in the latest convenient year; what were the sums so expended, respectively; and what proportion of the pensions was paid from the Exchequer, as opposed to contributions.
§ Mr. N. MacphersonAt the end of 1950, there were about 4,152,000 retirement pensioners, and some 1,350,000 weekly National Assistance allowances were paid, including 677,000 to retirement pensioners; comparable figures for the end of 1962 were about 5,800,000 and some 2,007,000 and 1,122,000 respectively. In 1950, expenditure on retirement pensions was about £249 million and on National Assistance generally about £56½ million; estimated figures for 1962 are about £805 million and £181 million respectively.
The cost of National Assistance is, of course, wholly borne by the Exchequer. The cost of National Insurance retirement pensions, along with other benefits, is met out of the National Insurance Fund into which the Exchequer as well as employers and insured persons pay contributions. It is not therefore possible to say how much of the cost of any particular benefit was 185W met from contributions, but virtually the whole benefit expenditure of the Fund in the financial year 1950–51 was covered by contributions paid in that year by employers and insured persons, whereas in 1961–62 the expenditure on benefits exceeded the total of such contributions by about £171 million.