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PART V
PLAN FOR SOCIAL SECURITY
ASSUMPTIONS, METHODS AND PRINCIPLES
300. Scope of Social Security : The term " social security " is used here to denote
the securing of an income to take the place of earnings when they are interrupted
by unemployment, sickness or accident, to provide for retirement through age, to
provide against loss of support by the death of another person, and to meet
exceptional expenditures, such as those connected with birth, death and
marriage. Primarily social security means security. of income up to a minimum,
but the provision of an income should be associated with treatment designed to
bring the interruption of earnings to an end as soon as possible.
301. Three Assumptions : No satisfactory scheme of social security can be devised
except on the following assumptions
(A) Childrenís allowances for children up to the age of 15 or if in full-time
education up to the age of 16
(B) Comprehensive health and rehabilitation services for prevention and
cure of disease and restoration of capacity for work, available to all
members of the community;
(C) Maintenance of employment, that is to say avoidance of mass
unemployment....
302. Three Methods of Security : On these three assumptions, a Plan for Social
Security is outlined below, combining three distinct methods: social insurance for
basic needs ; national assistance for special cases; voluntary insurance for
additions to the basic provision. Social insurance means the providing of cash
payments conditional upon compulsory contributions previously made by, or on
behalf of, the insured persons-, irrespective of the resources of the individual at
the time of the claim. Social insurance is much the most important of the three
methods and is proposed here in a form as comprehensive as possible. But while
social insurance can, and should, be the main instrument for guaranteeing
income security, it cannot be the only one. It needs to be supplemented both by
national assistance and by voluntary insurance. National assistance means the
giving of cash payments conditional upon proved need at the time of the claim,
irrespective of previous contributions but adjusted by consideration of individual
circumstances and paid from the national exchequer. Assistance is an
indispensable supplement to social insurance, however the scope of the latter
may be widened. In addition to both of these there is place for voluntary
insurance. Social insurance and national assistance organised by the State are
designed to guarantee, on condition of service, a basic income for subsistence.
The actual incomes and by consequence the normal standards of expenditure of
different sections of the population differ greatly Making provision for these
higher standards is primarily the function of the individual that is to say, it is a
matter for free choice and voluntary insurance. But the State should make sure
that its measures leave room and encouragement. for such voluntary insurance.
The social insurance scheme is the greater part of the Plan for Social Security
and its description occupies most of this Part of the Report. But the plan includes
national assistance and voluntary insurance as well.
303. Six Principles of Social Insurance : The social insurance scheme set out
below as the chief method of social security embodies six fundamental principles
Flat rate of subsistence benefit
Flat rate of contribution
Unification of administrative responsibility
Adequacy of benefit
Comprehensiveness
Classification
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