Explain the impact of the national insurance Act of 19110
In 1911 the state brought out the national insurance Act, there were two parts to this act; the first being about unemployment, and the second being about 000medical care and sickness.
The main aim of Unemployment insurance was to provide money if a worker became temporarily unemployed. This was achieved because the state compelled workers and their employers to contribute to a weekly national insurance fund. For example the payments were: worker paid 2 ½ D, the employer paid the same amount and the government paid 1 2/3 D. The impact of the was that this act enabled and covered 2.25 million workers and provided seven shillings a week benefit for up to 15 weeks. This therefore guaranteed a regular sum that enabled families of the unemployed to avoid destitution whilst the breadwinner tried to find another job.
On the other hand, it did not have the impact that the government wanted it to have. The benefit was not only far from the amount needed to keep a family running but also less than workers would normally get from Poor Law authorities or from some trade union schemes. But in addition this insurance only applied to certain trades, the ‘insured trade’. These were known for regular seasonal or cyclical unemployment. An example of this was the building and shipbuilding trades.
The second part of the national insurance act was the health insurance. The main aim of health insurance was to prevent hardship in a worker’s family if he fell ill. The state made it compulsory for which workers and their employers – like the unemployment insurance – had to pay weekly into the national fund. As a result it covered about 13 million workers. The scheme paid out a weekly sickness benefit of 10 shillings a week for 13 weeks then 5 shillings a week for a further 13 weeks. In addition there was a maternity grant for women workers and free medical treatment with an approved doctor.
However, by 1914 Rowntree...