§ Mr. James Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity whether she will seek to alter the two-year period for qualifying for redundancy payments to one year, so as to give consideration particularly to construction and building workers; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. HattersleyNo. The purpose of redundancy payments is to provide compensation for the loss of security by an employee who is made redundant. This security is only built up over a period of continuous employment and the Government regard two years as a suitable qualifying period. So far as construction and building workers are concerned, the Committee of Enquiry under Professor354W Phelps Brown concluded that the level of redundancy payments received by workers in the building and civil engineering industries showed no apparent need for them to receive special treatment.