10,834

1,494

19,062

3,592

225

The British National Insurance Act.

1911

On December 16th, 1911, after long and careful consideration of the subject, an act was passed by the British Parliament, the purposes of which are set forth in its title—“An act to provide for insurance against loss of health, and for the prevention and cure of sickness, and for insurance against unemployment, and for purposes incidental thereto." (Chapter 55, George V.) The act went into operation on July 15th, 1912, and regarding its adoption and final successful application to the industrial life of the nation as an event of the greatest importance, celebrations were held in many of the industrial centers of the country on that day. The friends and advocates of the system of national insurance which was brought into being by the act, arranged for great demonstrations of approval by all classes of people throughout the country, to take place on the day the act became operative, which was given_the_title—“Independence Day."

When the provisions of the act were first made known, a lack of enthusiasm was apparent among the populace generally, and the attitude of the working people for whose benefit the plan was devised, seemed to have been almost hostile. This remarkable state of things was due to several causes, principal among them being the coldness with which the plan was regarded by the trades unions and the friendly societies, the membership of which are practically identical, and also the provision in the law which requires that so large a proportion of the insurance fund shall be drawn from the beneficiary's wages. Public sentiment, however, favored the fundamental idea of the act, and before the arrival of the date for putting it into operation, a general desire was developed among the workingmen to have its efficiency tested under the fairest possible conditions.

In the abstract which follows, the purpose is to convey an understanding of the scope of the act without going into the minute details of organization and administration for which it provides.

PART I. NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE.

INSURED PERSONS.

All persons of sixteen years of age and upward employed in any part of the United Kingdom under contract of service or apprenticeship, written or oral, expressed or implied, no matter by whom wages are paid, or whether the wages are based on day-work or piece-work. Employment under such contract-expressed or implied, as master or member of the crew of any ship registered in the United Kingdom, or of any British ship or vessel, the owner or managing owner of which has his principal place of business in the United Kingdom.

Employment as an outworker, that is to say, persons who take materials to their own homes to be made up into such forms or altered or repaired in such manner as the owner of the material may direct. The insurance commissioners may, however, exclude outside workers engaged in any particular class of work, or may defer the commencement of the act with reference to all outworkers.

EXCEPTED PERSONS.

The following classes of persons are excepted from the operations of this act:

(a) Persons in the military or naval service of the Crown, including such as are serving in the officers' training corps.

(b) Persons employed under the Crown or any local or other public authority where the insurance commissioners are satisfied that the terms of employment are such as to insure provision in the case of sickness or disablement on the whole not less favorable than the benefits conferred by the Act.

Others exempt from the provisions of the Act on the same terms— i.e., that the employments which they follow guarantee protection in case of sickness or disablement equal on the whole to that provided under the law, are as follows.

(a) Clerks and other salaried officials of railway and other statutory corporations.

(b) Teachers in the public schools, who are covered by previously enacted protective legislation.

(c) Agents paid by commissions or fees or a share in the profits, or partly in one and partly in another of such ways, or when the person so employed is mainly dependent for his livlihood on some other occupation, or where he is ordinarily employed as such agent by more than one employer and his employment under no one of them is that on which he is mainly dependent for his livlihood.

(d) Persons employed on agricultural holdings, without wages or other money consideration, or where the person employed is the child of, or is maintained by the holder of the land.

(e) Persons employed otherwise than at manual labor and at a rate of remuneration amounting to not less than £160 ($800) per year.

(f) Persons in casual employments having no relation to the employer's trade or business. Where persons employed in any game or recreation are engaged and paid through a club, the club shall be deemed to be the employer.

(g) Persons employed in any class which may be specified by the insurance commission, as being of a nature that is ordinarily adopted as subsidiary employment only, and not as the principal means of earning a living.

(h) Wives employed as outworkers whose husbands are insured, and who are not wholly or mainly dependent for livlihood on the earnings of such employment.