§ 88. Dame Irene Wardasked the Minister of Social Security whether she will introduce legislation to enable a woman to cover the risk of widowhood if she so desires by payment of her National Insurance contribution.
§ Mrs. Hart:The provision to be made for women is being studied in the context of work on our wage-related pension scheme.
§ Mr. Bishopasked the Minister of Social Security how many people since 1948 have contributed towards a National Insurance pension but do not receive a pension due to insufficient contributions; and how many receive reduced pensions because their number of contributions do not qualify them to receive a full pension.
§ Mr. Pentland:About 250,000 people in Great Britain have reached the minimum pension age of 65 (60 for a woman) since 5th July, 1948 and have either not paid any contributions or not paid 14W sufficient contributions to qualify for a retirement pension. This figure does not include married women, who generally qualify for retirement pension on their husband's insurance.
Some 300,000 retirement pensions are reduced because the contribution conditions are not fully satisfied.
§ Mr. Priorasked the Minister of Social Security what is the total amount a married couple born in 1884 paid in National Insurance contributions during the 10 years from 1947 to 1957; how much would have been drawn by them in old-age pensions to date; and how much of that pension came from taxation.
§ Mr. Pentland:On the assumption that the man was a new entrant into insurance in July 1947, he and his employer could have contributed about£130. He and his wife could have received up to£2,800 by way of retirement pension on his insurance. Retirement pensions are paid out of the National Insurance Fund. Payments into the Fund by the Exchequer during the relevant period constituted about 16 per cent. of its income.