Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1977 > Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities > Report No. 56 - Equal Treatment for Workers in Social Security Matters

REPORT

1. Introduction

On 9 February, 1976 the Council of Ministers adopted Directive 76/207/ EEC* on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions. A report on the Directive while it was still in draft form was made by the Joint Committee in its ninth report (Prl. 4598) of 4 June, 1975.

Directive 76/207 specificially included the principle of equal teatment in matters of social security within its scope but provided that the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, would “adopt provisions defining its substance, its scope and the arrangements for its application”. In implementation of this undertaking the Commission sent a proposal (R/48/77) to the Council on 31 December, 1976 for a further Directive and this proposal has been examined by the Joint Committee.

2. Contents of Proposal

The proposed second Directive is concerned with the implementation of the principle of equal treatment between men and women in respect for social security schemes relating to medical care, loss of earnings through sickness, loss of earnings through unemployment, old age, employment accident or occupational disease and invalidity. Widows’ benefits, maternity benefit and family benefit are excluded, the first two because they are specific to women and the third because it lies more within the domain of family policy than working conditions. The proposed Directive is intended to cover all mandatory schemes providing protection against the contingencies mentioned, all occupational schemes in the private sector providing such protection insofar as they are not already covered by Community provisions and all social assistance arrangements insofar as they supplement or substitute for benefits in respect of any of the said contingencies. The principle of equal treatment is defined as the elimination of all discrimination whatsoever on grounds of sex as regards all obligations and benefits relating to the schemes covered by the draft Directive and, in particular, as regards the persons covered, the conditions of eligibility for benefits including contribution conditions, the type and form of benefits, the rate of payment including increases for dependants and the duration and conditions under which benefits can be received.

It is proposed that implementation would be in accordance with the following timetable:—

Within

At present, in Ireland, married women receive lower rates than men. There are also special rules for women as regards period and conditions of eligibility.

Within

3 Years: Elimination of discrimination as regards increases for depend-ants.

Within

4 Years: Equalisation of all occupational security schemes not already covered by Community provisions (e.g. pensions paid by employers to their retired employees).

Member States would be allowed to exclude from the application of the proposed Directive the determination of age for pension purposes, the periods of employment reckonable for pension purposes and benefits acquired by virtue of the spouse’s insurance. These matters are, however, to be kept under review and the Commission has indicated that the results “will be taken into account in considering further Community measures”.

3. Implications in Ireland

The areas in which changes in the schemes administered by the Department of Social Welfare would be necessary to implement the provisions of the draft Directive or in which such changes were made by the Social Welfare Act, 1977 (No. 3 of 1977) are as follows:

(a) Married women who are living with or who are wholly or mainly maintained by their husbands are paid unemployment benefit, disability benefit, invalidity pension and certain benefits payable under the Occupational Injuries Act, 1966 at rates lower than those payable to men and single women. Apart from occupational injuries benefits the special rate for married women is £10.85 from 4 April, 1977 (31 March for invalidity benefit) compared with a personal rate of £12.45 in the case of other claimants. As regards benefits payable under the Occupational Injuries Act the special rate for married women for injury and disablement benefits is a maximum of £13.60 compared with a maximum of £17.40 for other adult claimants; in the case of unemployability supplement the special rate and standard rate are the same as those payable by way of disability benefit etc. The same personal rates would have to be applied to all categories under the terms of the draft Directive.

(b) A single man or a widower may be paid an adult dependant’s allowance (usually called a housekeeper’s allowance) with unemployment benefit, disability benefit, invalidity pension, unemployment assistance and certain benefits payable under the Occupational Injuries Act, 1966 if he is maintaining a female person to care for dependent children. Formerly this allownce was not payable to women in similar circumstances but legislation has now rectified this situation (from March/April, 1977). The “house-keeper” allowance is now payable to single women, widows and women receiving deserted wife’s benefit or allowance under the same conditions and with the same benefits as men.

(c) Allowances for dependants are payable to male and female beneficiaries under different conditions. A man may be paid an adult dependant allowance in respect of his wife if he is living with her or is wholly or mainly maintaining her; a woman may qualify for an adult dependant allowance in respect of her husband if he is an invalid and is wholly or mainly maintained by her. Title to child dependant allowance rests with the person with whom the child is normally resident. Statutory rules provide that a child shall not be regarded as normally residing with more than one person. Under these rules, a child living with his parents is regarded as normally residing with his father unless the father is incapable of self support and the child is wholly or mainly maintained by the mother. In such cases, the child is regarded as normally residing with the mother and she can qualify for child dependant allowances. Equality of treatment in this area must also be granted under the terms of the draft Directive.

(d) Married women who are living with or who are wholly or mainly maintained by their husbands qualify for unemployment benefit for 156 days compared with the 390 days duration which normally applies in the case of men and single women. The terms of the draft Directive require that the same duration will be applied in all these cases.

(e) To qualify for unemployment assistance, women applicants must satisfy special conditions which do not apply to men. Hitherto, a widow or a single woman was required to have at least one dependant or to have had at least 52 employment contributions paid during the four contribution years preceding the one in which she is claiming. This condition has been eased from 30 March, 1977 when the contribution requirement was reduced from 52 to 26. A married woman must have a dependent husband or, if neither spouse is dependent on the other, she must have at least one dependant. These special conditions would have to be abolished under the terms of the draft Directive.

(f) As well as equality of treatment in the matter of benefits, there is also an obligation for equality of treatment in the matter of contributions. Women’s contributions are lower than those of men and it would, therefore, be necessary to equalise the rates for men and women.

The Joint Committee is informed that in the first stage of the implementation of the proposed Directive, the additional state expenditure required would be about £8½m. a year. In the second stage about a further £23m. a year might be required if both husband and wife would be entitled to claim for the same dependants. The increase in the women’s social welfare contributions would yield about £1.1m. to the Social Insurance and Occupational Injuries Funds and £94,000 to the Redundancy Payments Fund.

No changes would be required in the health services as there is no discrimination on the grounds of sex.

Within four years of its adoption, the draft Directive would require the removal of any discrimination between men and women in the matter of obligations and benefits provided for in occupational schemes operated by firms in the private sector for their employees. The Joint Committee is informed that most of these are funded by insurance contracts under which a capital sum, payable on date of employee’s retirement, is used to purchase an annuity for the remainder of the employee’s life. Because of her longer life expectancy the same capital sum will purchase a smaller annuity for a woman than it would for a man of the same age and consequently women’s pensions under such schemes are smaller than men’s even where earnings and contributions have been the same. The Joint Committee understands that the Commission would regard any such discrimination arising from actuarial considerations as falling within the prohibition in the proposed Directive.

4. Views of the Joint Committee

In its ninth report (Prl. 4598) of 4 June, 1975 the Joint Committee fully endorsed the principle of equal treatment of men and women workers. It accepts that in the matter of social security, workers in similar circumstances should be treated in the same fashion whether they be men or women. In the Joint Committee’s view it is, however, essential that, while funds for social services are necessarily limited, they should be applied in the areas of greatest need but this should be done without regard to whether the beneficaries are men or women.

The burden of implementing the proposed Directive will be heavier for Ireland than for other Member States whose ecomonies are much more advanced. No assistance from the Community in meeting any of the cost can be anticipated. It is essential, therefore, that the expenditure on the changes envisaged should represent the most advantageous use of resources so far as this country is concerned. The Joint Committee is doubtful if the arrangements to be implemented during the second stage as regards payments for dependants meet this criterion. There does not appear to be anything in the draft Directive which would prevent both a husband and a wife being paid for the same dependants every time either had a claim for benefit. The Joint Committee notes that it is proposed that each Member State would be able to make its own rules about “the acquisition of rights to benefit by virtue of the insurance status or contribution record of a spouse”. In the Committee’s view Member States should also be entitled to provide in national laws that allowances for the same dependants cannot be claimed by more than one claimant.

The Joint Committee is also concerned with the possible effect of the Directive on the occupational schemes in the private sector. These schemes are entirely voluntary and according to the Government’s discussion paper on “A National Income Related Pension Scheme” (Prl. 5737) only 31 per cent of all workers in the private sector are covered by these schemes. Obviously, it is desirable to encourage the extension of such schemes throughout the whole private sector and this is scarcely likely to be achieved by making the existing schemes more expensive to operate. Nevertheless, the Joint Committee believes that the principle of equality of treatment requires that there be no differentiation on the grounds of sex in the rates of pensions payable under such schemes and it considers that this should be achieved without any impairment of benefits at present enjoyed under the schemes.

5. Acknowledgements

The Joint Committee wishes to express its appreciation of the assistance it received in considering this draft Directive from the Federated Union of Employers, the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union, the Irish Life Offices of Ireland and Dr. Brendan Walsh of the Economic and Social Research Institute.

(Signed) CHARLES J. HAUGHEY.

Chairman of the Joint Committee.

4th May, 1977.

* O.J. L39/40 of 14 February, 1976.