National Insurance Act 1911

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved


National Insurance Act, 1911

(1 & 2 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 55.

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.

[16th December 1911]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

I National Health Insurance.

Part I.

National Health Insurance.

Insured Persons.

Insured Persons.

S-1 Insured persons.

1 Insured persons.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, all persons of the age of sixteen and upwards who are employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act shall be, and any such persons who are not so employed but who possess the qualifications herein-after mentioned may be, insured in manner provided in this Part of this Act, and all persons so insured (in this Act called ‘insured persons’) shall be entitled in the manner and subject to the conditions provided in this Act to the benefits in respect of health insurance and prevention of sickness conferred by this Part of this Act.

(2) The persons employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act (in this Act referred to as ‘employed contributors’) shall include all persons of either sex, whether British subjects or not, who are engaged in any of the employments specified in Part I. of the First Schedule to this Act, not being employments specified in Part II. of that schedule:

Provided that the Insurance Commissioners herein-after constituted may, with the approval of the Treasury, by a special order made in manner herein-after provided, provide for including amongst the persons employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act any persons engaged in any of the excepted employments specified in Part II. of the said schedule either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as may be specifies in the order.

(3) The persons not employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act who are entitled to be insured persons include all persons who either—

(a ) are engaged in some regular occupation and are wholly or mainly dependent for their livelihood on the earnings derived by them from that occupation; or

(b ) have been insured persons for a period of five years or upwards;

and the persons possessing such qualifications who become or continue to be insured persons are in this Act referred to as voluntary contributors: Provided always that no person whose total income from all sources exceeds one hundred and sixty pounds a year shall be entitled to be a voluntary contributor unless he has been insured under this Part of this Act for a period of five years or upwards.

(4) Except as herein-after provided, nothing in this section shall require or authorise a person of the age of sixty-five or upwards not previously insured under this Part of this Act to become so insured.

S-2 Exemptions.

2 Exemptions.

(1) Where any person employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act proves that he is either—

(a ) in receipt of any pension or income of the annual value of twenty-six pounds or upwards not dependent upon his personal exertions; or

(b ) ordinarily and mainly dependent for his livelihood upon some other person;

he shall be entitled to a certificate exempting him from the liability to become or to continue to be insured under this Part of this Act.

(2) All claims for exemption shall be made to, and certificates of exemption granted by, the Insurance Commissioners in the prescribed manner and subject to the prescribed conditions, and may be so made and granted before, as well as after, the commencement of this Act: Provided that the regulations of the Insurance Commissioners may provide for claims under this section being made to and certificates granted by approved societies and Insurance Committees herein-after constituted.

Contributions.

Contributions.

S-3 Contributions by insured persons, employers, and the Treasury.

3 Contributions by insured persons, employers, and the Treasury.

3. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, the funds for providing the benefits conferred by this Part of this Act and defraying the expenses of the administration of those benefits shall be derived as to seven-ninths (or, in the case of women, three-fourths) thereof from contributions made by or in respect of the contributors by themselves or their employers, and as to the remaining two-ninths (or, in the case of women, one quarter) thereof from moneys provided by Parliament.

S-4 Rates and rules for contributions by employed contributors and their employers.

4 Rates and rules for contributions by employed contributors and their employers.

(1) The contributions payable in respect of employed contributors shall be at the rate specified in Part I. of the Second Schedule to this Act (herein-after referred to as the employed rate), and shall comprise contributions by the contributors and contributions by their employers at the rates specified in that Part of that schedule, and shall be payable at weekly or other prescribed intervals:

Provided that, in the case of an employed contributor of the age of twenty-one or upwards whose remuneration does not include the provision of board and lodging by the employer and the rate of whose remuneration does not exceed two shillings a working day, such part of the contributions payable in respect of him as is specified in the said schedule shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(2) The employer shall, in the first instance, pay both the contributions payable by himself (in this Act referred to as the employer's contributions), and also on behalf of the employed contributor the contributions payable by such contributor, and shall be entitled to recover from the contributor by deduction from his wages or otherwise the amount of the contributions so paid by him on behalf of the contributor, in accordance with the rules set out in the Third Schedule to this Act.

(3) Contributions in respect of employed contributors shall cease to be payable on their attaining the age of seventy.

(4) The employer of a person who though employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act is not insured under this Part of this Act by reason either—

(a ) that, not having previously been an insured person, he has become employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act after attaining the age of sixty-five; or

(b ) that he has obtained and still holds a certificate of exemption under this Part of this Act;

shall be liable to pay the like contributions as would have been payable as employer's contributions if such person had been an employed contributor, and such contributions shall be carried to such account and dealt with in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners, and those regulations may provide for applying the sums standing to the credit of the account, or any part thereof, for the benefit of any persons in respect of whom contributions have been so paid, in the event of such persons subsequently becoming employed contributors.

S-5 Rates and rules for contributions by voluntary contributors.

5 Rates and rules for contributions by voluntary contributors.

(1) The contributions payable by voluntary contributors shall be at the rate appropriate to their age at the date of their entry into insurance ascertained in accordance with a table to be prepared by the Insurance Commissioners (herein-after referred to as the voluntary rate) and shall be paid by the voluntary contributors at weekly or other prescribed intervals:

Provided that—

(a ) In the case of a person who enters into insurance within six months after the commencement of this Act, the voluntary rate shall, if he is below the age of forty-five at the date of entering into insurance be the same as the employed rate, and, if he is of the age of forty-five or upwards, be such rate, ascertained according to a table to be prepared by the Insurance Commissioners, as, having regard to his age at that date, will be sufficient to cover seven-ninths, or, in the case of a woman, three-fourths, of the benefits conferred by this Part of this Act;

(b ) Where a person, having been an employed contributor for five years or upwards, becomes a voluntary contributor, the rate of contribution payable by him shall continue to be the employed rate.

(2) Contributions by voluntary contributors shall cease to be payable on their attaining the age of seventy.

S-6 Change from voluntary rate to employed rate and vice vers.

6 Change from voluntary rate to employed rate and vice vers.

(1) Where an insured person has become a member of an approved society as a voluntary contributor, the rate of contributions payable in respect of him shall, notwithstanding that he becomes employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, remain the voluntary rate, unless at any time after becoming so employed he gives notice in the prescribed manner of his wish to be transferred to the employed rate.

(2) Where he gives such notice, the rate payable in respect of him shall be the employed rate, but in such case the rate of sickness benefit payable in respect of him shall be such reduced rate as would have been payable had he not previously been insured, subject to such addition as may, according to tables prepared by the Insurance Commissioners, represent the value at that time of the contributions previously paid by him.

(3) Where he does not give such notice, and until he does so, the contributions payable by his employer in respect of him during any period of employment within the meaning of this Part of this Act shall be the same as if he had been transferred to the employed rate, and the contributions so paid by the employer shall be treated as in part satisfaction of the...

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