1948 National Assistance Act
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1948 National Assistance Act
The National Assistance Act 1948 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Clement Attlee. It formally abolished the Poor Law system that had existed since the reign of Elizabeth I, and established a social safety net for those who did not pay national insurance contributions (such as the homeless, the physically disabled, and unmarried mothers) and were therefore left uncovered by the National Insurance Act 1946 and the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946. It also provided help to elderly Britons who required supplementary benefits to make a subsistence living, and obliged local authorities to provide suitable accommodation for those who through infirmity, age, or any other reason were in need of care and attention not otherwise available. The legislation also empowered local authorities to grant financial aid to organizations of volunteers concerned with the provision of recreational facilities or meals.Labour and inequality: ...
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Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill, and served twice as Leader of the Opposition from 1935 to 1940 and from 1951 to 1955. Attlee remains the longest serving Labour leader. Attlee was born into an upper-middle-class family, the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After attending the public school Haileybury College and the University of Oxford, he practised as a barrister. The volunteer work he carried out in London's East End exposed him to poverty, and his political views shifted leftwards thereafter. He joined the Independent Labour Party, gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at the London School of Economics. His work was interrupted by service as an officer in the First World War. In 1919, he ...
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Poor Law
In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of helping the poor. Alongside ever-changing attitudes towards poverty, many methods have been attempted to answer these questions. Since the early 16th century legislation on poverty enacted by the English Parliament, poor relief has developed from being little more than a systematic means of punishment into a complex system of government-funded support and protection, especially following the creation in the 1940s of the welfare state. Tudor era In the late 15th century, parliament took action on the growing problem of poverty, focusing on punishing people for being "vagabonds" and for begging. In 1495, during the reign of King Henry VII, Parliament enacted the Vagabond Act. This provided for officers of the law to arrest and hold "all such ...
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Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed when Elizabeth was two years old. Anne's marriage to Henry was annulled, and Elizabeth was for a time declared illegitimate. Her half-brother Edward VI ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, the Catholic Mary and the younger Elizabeth, in spite of statute law to the contrary. Edward's will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Mary's reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. Upon her half-sister's death in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She ...
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Social Safety Net
The social safety net (SSN) consists of non-contributory assistance existing to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty and destitution. Examples of SSNs are previously-contributory social pensions, in-kind and food transfers, conditional and unconditional cash transfers, fee waivers, public works, and school feeding programs. The core idea of SSN can be understood as an analogy to a circus artist walking on a tightrope with a net hanging under it, ready to catch the artist if she falls. It is not helping her to get up on the line again, but prevents her from falling to the ground, avoiding potentially life-threatening damages. In the same way, the economic social safety net provides a certain minimum amount of welfare or safety that the society has agreed that no one should fall below. Definitions There is no exact and unified definition of the concept of SSN. The World Bank has one of the widest definitions, but multiple definitions are used b ...
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National Insurance Contribution
National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their families. Introduced by the National Insurance Act 1911 and expanded by the Labour government in 1948, the system has been subjected to numerous amendments in succeeding years. Initially, it was a contributory form of insurance against illness and unemployment, and eventually provided retirement pensions and other benefits. Currently, workers pay contributions from the age of 16 years, until the age they become eligible for the State pension. Contributions are due from employed people earning at or above a threshold called the Lower Earnings Limit, the value of which is reviewed each year. Self-employed people contribute partly through a fixed weekly or monthly payment and partly on a percentage of net profits above a threshold, which is revie ...
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National Insurance Act 1946
The National Insurance Act 1946 (c 67) was a British Act of Parliament 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) 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 offered to men and women at ages 60 and 65 respectively. 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. Significance According to the historian Kenneth O. Morgan, the Act const ...
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National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946
The National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946 was a British Act of Parliament which provided compensation paid by the Ministry of National Insurance to workers who were left injured or disabled as a result of work-related accidents. The Act replaced the Workmen's Compensation Acts. The act was universal, in the sense that it covered the entire workforce. It provided injury benefit for six months, disability benefit for the permanently injured, and a death benefit for dependents. Tribunals were set up to assess cases rather than the burden of proving a case resting on the claimant, although claims still remained hard to prove. The Act's limitation of the right to appeal was considered in ''R v Medical Appeal Tribunal, ex p Gilmore'' 9571 QB 574 where Lord Denning Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 â€“ 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. ...
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National Assistance Board
The National Assistance Board was established by the National Assistance Act 1948 and abolished in by the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966. It was preceded by the Unemployment Assistance Board (known from 1941 as the Assistance Board) and succeeded by the Supplementary Benefit Commission. There was a separate National Assistance Board of Northern Ireland. The National Assistance Act 1946 required local authorities, under the control of the board, to provide residential accommodation for older and disabled people ‘in need of care and attention which is not otherwise available to them’. They were also able to register and inspect homes run by charitable (non-profit) and private (for profit) organizations and to contribute to independent organisations providing ‘recreation or meals for old people’ or themselves provide these, or day centres, clubs etc. Staff Sir Harold Fieldhouse was Secretary of the Board from 1948 until 1959 when he was succeeded by Sir Donald Sarge ...
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National Assistance
National Assistance was the main means-tested benefit in the United Kingdom from 1948 to 1966. It was established by the National Assistance Act 1948 and abolished by the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966, which established the Supplementary Benefit in its place. It replaced earlier provisions under the Poor Law. The Beveridge Report of 1942 proposed a system of contributory benefits which would leave only a residual role for means-tested benefits. "Assistance will be available to meet all needs which are not covered by insurance. It must meet those needs adequately up to subsistence level, but it must be felt to be something less desirable than insurance benefit; otherwise the insured persons get nothing for their contributions." The National Assistance Board was established to direct the scheme, taking over from the Unemployment Assistance Board. There were close similarities between the National Assistance regulations of 1948 and the pre-war Unemployment Assistance ...
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Denis Nowell Pritt
Denis Nowell Pritt, QC (22 September 1887 – 23 May 1972) was a British barrister and left-wing Labour Party politician. Born in Harlesden, Middlesex, he was educated at Winchester College and the University of London. A member of the Labour Party from 1918, he was a defender of the Soviet Union. In 1932, as part of G. D. H. Cole's New Fabian Research Bureau's expert commission of enquiry, he visited the Soviet Union, and, according to Margaret Cole, "the eminent KC swallowed it ''all''". Pritt was expelled from the Labour Party in March 1940 following his support of the Soviet invasion of Finland. Pritt was characterised by George Orwell as "perhaps the most effective pro-Soviet publicist in this country". Early life Pritt was born 22 September 1887 in London, the son of a metal merchant.Colin Holmes, "Denis Nowell Pritt," in A. Thomas Lane (ed.), ''Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders: Volume 2: M-Z.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995; pp. 779-780. He wa ...
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National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the "NHS" name ( NHS England, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales). Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland was created separately and is often locally referred to as "the NHS". The four systems were established in 1948 as part of major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery—a health service based on clinical need, not ability to pay. Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, free at the point of use for people ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom apart from dental treatment and optical care. In England, NHS patients have to pay prescription charges; some, such as those aged over 60 and certain state ben ...
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Pensions In The United Kingdom
Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions - state, occupational and personal pensions. The state pension is based on years worked, with a 35-year work history yielding a pension of £185.15 per week. It is linked to wage and price increases. Most employees and the self-employed are also enrolled in employer-subsidised and tax-efficient occupational and personal pensions which supplement this basic state-provided pension. Historically, the "Old Age Pension" was introduced in 1909 in the United Kingdom (which included all of Ireland at that time). Following the passage of the Old-Age Pensions Act 1908 a pension of 5 shillings per week (25p, equivalent, using the Consumer Price Index, to £ in present-day terms), or 7s.6d per week (equivalent to £/week today) for a married couple, was payable to persons with an income below £21 per annum (equivalent to  ...
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