 |
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. |
The National Insurance Act 1911 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act is often regarded as one of the foundations of modern social welfare in the United Kingdom and forms part of the wider social welfare reforms of the Liberal Government of 1906-1914. The increasing influence of the Labour Party among the population had put the Liberals under pressure to enact social legislation.
Each worker aged between 16 and 70 had to pay 4d. a week, the employer paid 3d. and the state added 2d. In return workers received free medical care and medicine. Contributors were also guaranteed 7s. a week for fifteen weeks in any one year, if they became unemployed. These benefits were paid at Labour Exchanges which provided unemployed workers with information on any vacancies which existed in the area.
Contents |
Provisions
The Act was passed in two stages. The National Insurance Act Part I provided for a National Insurance scheme with provision of medical benefits and the National Insurance Act Part II provided for time-limited unemployment benefit . The scheme was to be based on actuarial principles and it was planned that it would be funded by a fixed amount each from workers, employers and the government. The scheme from Part II was restricted to particular industries and neither made any provision for dependants. By 1913 2.3 million were insured under the scheme for unemployment benefit and almost 15 million insured for sickness benefit.
A key assumption of the Act was an unemployment rate of 4.6%. At the time the Act was passed unemployment was at 3% and the fund was expected to quickly build a surplus. Under the Act, employees contributions to the scheme were to be compulsory and taken by the employer before the workers salary was paid.
Britain was not the first country to provide insured benefits; Germany had provided compulsory national insurance against sickness from 1884. Sections of the Conservative party opposed the Act considering that it was not for taxpayers to pay for such benefits. Some trade unions who operated their own insurance schemes and friendly societies were also opposed.
The Act was important as it removed the need for unemployed workers, who were insured under the scheme, to rely on the stigmatised social welfare provisions of the Poor Law. This led to the end of the primacy of the Poor Law as a social welfare provider, resulting in the Poor Law finally being abolished in 1926.
A key figure in the implementation of the Act was Robert Laurie Morant.
See also
- State pensions acts
- Widows ‘Orphans’ and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act 1925
- National Insurance Act 1946
- National Insurance Act 1965
- Social Security Contibutions and Benefits Act 1992
- Private pensions acts
- Superannuation and other Funds (Validation) Act 1992
- Pension Schemes Act 1993
- Pensions Act 1995
- Pensions Act 2004
- Pensions Act 2007
- Pensions Act 2008
Notes
References
- I Gazeley, Poverty in Britain 1900-1945 (Palgrave 2003)
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
