National Insurance Against Sickness and Unemployment : Full explanation of Mr Lloyd George's great scheme
1911 1911 1910s 4 pages 4 every penny rescued from excessive drinking is a direct benefit to the insurance fund. The health committees will, moreover, fix their attention on any area where housing is so defective as to cause exceptional ill-health. Where local authorities are thus failing in their...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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London : The Daily News
[1911?]
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/1F6F72B8-5037-48BC-9244-A3D65978D3A2 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/C906BAE5-F260-4843-93B9-B5172490933F |
| Summary: | 1911
1911
1910s
4 pages
4 every penny rescued from excessive drinking is a direct benefit to the insurance fund. The health committees will, moreover, fix their attention on any area where housing is so defective as to cause exceptional ill-health. Where local authorities are thus failing in their duty, application will be made by the health committee to the Local Government Board, which Department will see to it that the affair is drastically remedied. The health committee may incur additional expenditure, half from the rates and half from the Treasury, provided always that the committee first obtains the approval of the rating authority and of the Treasury. This is Part 1 of the Bill. The insurance scheme differs from that in Germany in two respects. First, it is much more generous; secondly, the payments into the fund and the benefits received from it are, in the main, fixed at one flat rate. In Germany contributions and benefits are graduated according to wages. The poorer the man is the less does he pay and the less does he receive. PART 2.— UNEMPLOYMENT. Part 2 of the Bill deals with unemployment. It is divided, like the sickness insurance, into a compulsory and a voluntary branch. The compulsory branch applies at first to certain selected trades employing 2,400,000 adult workmen. These trades are split into two groups — i.e., engineering and building. The scheme thus covers building, construction of works, shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, and the construction of vehicles. Throughout these trades it will be compulsory on workmen, whether skilled or unskilled, and their employers to contribute to the unemployment fund. These are, indeed, the trades chiefly subject to violent fluctuations. There is not probably quite the same necessity for this kind of insurance among railway men or among miners and cotton-workers, who deal with trade depression by means of short time. At the same time, the compulsory fund will be extended to other trades, as application is made, and good cause shown, and the voluntary fund described below is at once available for these trades also. The contributions to the compulsory fund will be as follows: From the wage-earner 2 1/2 d. From the employer 2 1/2 d. From the State .................. (of the total cost). 25 p.c. Each man will have his card, which will stamped as in the case of sickness insurance. The wage-eamer's share will be deducted from his weekly wages, and the amount of the two contributions will be 21s. 8d. per annum, if he works all the year round. Contributions cease when a man is unemployed through sickness or any other cause. If, however, the employer likes to insure a workman for a year in advance, he may make one payment of 15s. for that particular man — an abatement of 6s. 8d., the full benefit of which will go to the employer. This large abatement is arranged as an inducement to employers to keep on their men permanently, and the men so kept on would, of course, cost the fund nothing during the year. Men thus regularly employed will probably receive special benefits from the fund. It is estimated that the compulsory unemployment fund will amount to : From the men ..... £1,100,000 From the employers 900,000 From the State 700,000 Total £2,700,000 From these figures it will be seen that the abatement to the employers in respect of regular workmen is equivalent to about £200,000. A workman when out of employment will proceed to the Labour Exchange, which will offer him a job if it has one. If he accepts the job, well and good. If he refuses it, there will arise the question who is to decide whether he ought to have unemployed pay or not. This question will be submitted to a court of referees, on which employers and workmen will be equally represented. The benefits under the compulsory provisions are: For engineering trades, 7s. a week for 15 weeks in a year, For building trades, 6s. a week for 15 weeks in a year. These periods may be varied if the resources of the fund permit. No man must receive on the average more than one week's pay for five weeks of contribution. When an employed workman's average passes beyond this limit, he drops out of the scheme till he gets work again, which will thus automatically rid itself of the loafers. ENTER THE TRADE UNIONS. These are general arrangements, but it is hoped that men in the compulsory trades will still insure against unemployment through their unions, at least, so far as drawing benefit is concerned. If they do this, the plan will be as follows : (1) They will have national insurance cards, stamped as explained above, and will have deductions from their wages. (2) They will pay the union contribution, whatever it be. In view of the contributions to unemployment fund the union will be able either to reduce its own subscription or to give higher benefits. (3) They will get their benefit from the union, not from the labour exchange. (4) The benefit granted will include in one sum (a) the union benefit and (b) the State benefit. (5) There is a stipulation that the extra union benefit must at least be equal to half the State benefit. For the engineering trades this would mean that, the benefit must be at least— 7s. from the unemployment fund. 3s. 6d. from union. Total, 10s. 6d. For the building trades the figures would be at least 6s. from unemployment fund. 3s. from union. Total, 9s. Subject to these conditions, the union may, broadly speaking, fix the amounts, periods, and rules as it likes, and at suitable periods it applies to the State for whatever refund is due on benefits paid out. The voluntary branch of the unemployment insurance is distinct and universal. It applies to any association that pays benefits to unemployed members, including, for instance, clerks. Such an association will receive one-sixth of what it thus pays - the subvention to come not from the compulsory fund, but direct from the Treasury. Thus, a trade union outside the compulsory range, which pays unemployed benefit of 12s. a week, will be entitled to 2s. a week from the State. And a trade union inside the compulsory range will be entitled to one-sixth on any unemployment benefit distributed by it, above and beyond the 7s. for the engineering, and the 6s. for the building trades which come from the unemployment fund. It is, indeed, the object of the scheme to encourage insurance through trade unions as far as possible, as a careful consideration of the arrangements will prove. Also the scheme is so adjusted as to balance the proportionate benefits derived from the State, as between the compulsory and voluntary branches. Thus, no class of workers receive a special privilege at the expense of the community. Prices for quantities of this Pamphlet are :— 5/- for 1,000, 3/- for 500, 1/- for 100, 8d. for 50, 3d. for 12, 1d. for 3. Printed and Published by The Daily News Ltd., Bouverie Street, London, and 53, Dale Street, Manchester.
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