Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 15 Gorffennaf 1925.
I beg to move, in page 23, line 21, to leave out the word "whether."
I suggest that it would be for the convenience of the Committee if I discussed at the same time the second Amendment standing in my name, in line 21, to leave out the words "or after." The effect would be that the Minister would have the right to refuse a widows' or orphans' pension only in cases where a fatal accident had occurred between the beginning of January, 1924, and the beginning of the operation of the Bill in 1926. The object of such limitation is to meet what we consider to be the very unjust provision made by this Clause, under which the State refuses to honour an obligation entered into as between the State and the contributor, whereby the benefits for which he has paid shall accrue to his widow or orphans in the event of a catastrophe overtaking him. It appears to us that this Bill ceases to be an insurance Bill in the fullest and truest sense by the introduction of the provision of which we complain. Last night we discussed an Amendment taking into consideration existing pensions. This Clause gives the Minister the right to take into consideration any sums that accrue to the family by way of damages for the loss of the husband and father as a result of a fatal accident occurring during his employment. There is another proposal which proposes to take away the right of unemployed persons.
Whilst this Bill is called a Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Bill, it does not incorporate the real principles that ought to be embodied in a National Insurance Act. Assuming that one of the great insurance societies in this country were to say to those who pay premiums, "You may meet with a fatal accident in the street through being knocked down by a motor car or a motor omnibus, or you may meet with a fatal injury whilst following your employment. Notwithstanding the fact that we undertook to accept from you a premium and in return to guarantee certain moneys at your death, we reserve to ourselves the right to refuse such death allowance if your family secure from a Court of Law damages for a fatal accident to the head of the family." What should he think of such a society? Instead of being a Bill to assist in the promotion of thrift, it appears to me, in consequence of a provision of the sort to which I am drawing attention, that this Bill militates against thrift, because it makes an unfair distinction as against the family of the man who meets with his death whilst following his ordinary employment and the family of the man who meets his death in the street or from some other cause occurring outside the course of his employment, and for which damages rightly and justly accrue to his family.
4.0 P.M.
You say to the workman, "Although you must pay your premiums under this Insurance Act, if you should be killed at work your widow and orphans can expect nothing from the fund, but if you meet your death in the streets through being knocked down, or as a result of some other accident happening outside the operations of the Workmen's Compensation Acts from 1906 and onwards, that is all right; we will meet to the full the obligations of the Act." Can there be any semblance of justice in that? Surely, if the insured person cares to make provision which may accrue to the benefit of his family at his death and you take that into account, you might just as well say that as the employer has to pay for ensuring the safety of the workman while he employs him you also intend to take that into account as regards the fund under this Bill. Otherwise, what are the reasons for singling out this one type of case? Can it be that you desire to lighten the possible calls on the fund and that you argue that as the employer is bound by law to meet the damages for possible injuries sustained to any of his workmen, the workman shall be penalised because of his contributions to the fund? The workman pays his share equally with the employer for the insurance under this scheme. I cannot therefore understand why we should have such a Clause introduced. Most of the general public assume this to be a widows and orphans' insurance scheme, but it is only so in parts. The exclusion on the need pensions side, this provision with regard to damages in the form of compensation to the family for a workman killed in an accident, and the unemployment donation when a man reaches the age of 65—by all these eliminations, you will find that many of the insured population are excluded from benefits under the Bill. If contributions are called for, response should be made. Surely you are not going to say, where damages accrue in the form of compensation, to which the employers separately insure-they do not undertake the risk themselves: they insure with insurance companies-through a Court of Law, or, when the amount is registered, through the County Court, any more than you dare say in the case of those who have sufficient credit, that because there is a certain income coining into the home it is unwise that it should be augmented from the widows' and orphans' insurance fund, notwithstanding the fact that a premium has been taken out by the employés.
I want the Minister to take the human side. It is not that the widows and orphans look at the sum total of the weekly amount they receive as damages for the death of the husband or father. They would rather have the husband and father with them. Consequently, it cannot be from fear, if compensation comes into the home amounting to 30s. or 35s. a week, in accordance with the number of the family, that you should withhold from them something for which they have contributed and to which in augmentation of their income they have a right. I say that the mere fact of it being an insurance establishes the first elementary principle of right. If I took out an insurance hoping that my family would benefit, I should feel very uneasy in my mind if I were told: "If you die under certain circumstances, they can have the benefit; but, if you die under other circumstances, they cannot have it." In that case, you have no right to take the premium. I could understand you asking for this power if it were a non-contributory scheme, but, if you are only going to make this fund solvent by the exclusion from benefit of those who have undeniable, moral rights, whatever their legal rights may be under this Bill when it becomes an Act, then it seems to me that it is incomplete and is patchwork social legislation. It is not even a real, decent attempt at general social insurance. Indeed, I believe it will lead to great litigation on behalf of those who will assume that they have rights under this Bill but who will find that under certain Clauses powers not exactly clearly or well defined are given to the Minister. I know that by an Amendment in the Minister's name he proposes to make up any difference, but that is totally inadequate. There should be no question of varying the benefits. A common payment is made, and a common benefit should accrue; and, if the head of the household be taken away by accident, the benefits of the Act ought to be applied with greater pleasure, so as to remove permanently from that family any fear or dread in addition to having lost the husband and father.