National Insurance Act 1946

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National Insurance Act 1946[a]
Act of Parliament
coat of arms
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to establish an extended system of national insurance providing pecuniary payments by way of unemployment benefit, sickness benefit, maternity benefit, retirement pension, widows' benefit, guardian's allowance and death grant, to repeal or amend the existing enactments relating to unemployment insurance, national health insurance, widows', orphans' and old age contributory pensions and non-contributory old age pensions, to provide for the making of payments towards the cost of a national health service, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Citation9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 67
Introduced byLabour Party (UK) (Commons)
Territorial extent 
[b]
Dates
Royal assent1 August 1946
Commencement23 January 1948[c]
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes
Amended by
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
A British 1948 National Insurance stamp, once used to collect contributions to the scheme.

The National Insurance Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 67) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Attlee ministry which established a comprehensive system of social security throughout the United Kingdom.

The act meant that all who were of working age were to pay a weekly contribution. If they had been paying National Insurance, mothers were to be entitled to an allowance (of 18 weeks)[1] for each child as well as a lump sum when the child was born. The act however excluded married women. The weekly contributions meant that benefits including sickness benefit and unemployment benefits were able to be offered. Pensions were to be offered to men and women at ages 65 and 60 respectively.[2]

Background

Attlee had campaigned hard in his campaign leading up to the 1945 election for the creation of the welfare state. When elected, he and his administration and adopted Beveridge proposal from 1944 to keep to his manifesto promise.[1]

Significance

According to the historian Kenneth O. Morgan, the Act constituted "a measure which provided a comprehensive universal basis for insurance provision that had hitherto been unknown".[3]

See also

Notes

  1. Section 80(1).
  2. Section 80(2).
  3. Section 73(1). The National Insurance Act 1946 (Appointed Day) Order 1948.

References

  1. "1940's Origins of the Welfare State". The National Archives. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  2. "The National Insurance Act 1946". Policy Navigator. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  3. Taylor, David, Mastering Economic and Social History