§ 34. Mr. MacGregorasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the costs to the latest available date of unemployment benefit in the current year.
§ Mr. MeacherAbout £340 million from 1st January 1975 to 30th November 1975, based on provisional figures.
§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in the past two years have been refused unemployment benefit to persons categorised as seasonal workers in spite of the fact that they have experienced only two off seasons of more than seven weeks; and if she will make a statement about the implication for these people of the recent successful appeal to the National Insurance Commissioner.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe information needed to answer the first part of the hon. Member's Question could not be obtained without the disproportionate expenditure of staff time. The effect of the relevant case-law has for many years been that a person is not normally held to have become a seasonal worker until three years have elapsed during which his only substantial employment has been seasonal. In a recent case considered by a tribunal of national insurance commissioners, however, it was decided that the period of three years used in the three-year test should start at the beginning of the claimant's first spell of seasonal work and not, as hitherto, be calculated back from the end of the latest spell of seasonal424W work. This could mean that some claimants would not be treated as seasonal workers until later than would previously have been the case. The interpretation and application of the case-law is a matter for the independent adjudicating authorities.
The regulations affecting seasonal workers are at present being reviewed by the National Insurance Advisory Committee.