00:02The End
00:34July the 5th this year sees the fulfilment of centuries of social legislation when the
00:39new National Insurance Acts come into operation. For the first time everyone or almost everyone
00:45in the United Kingdom can insure against want. There will be sickness and unemployment benefits,
00:51retirement pensions, maternity grants, death grants, widow's benefits, guardian's allowances,
01:02industrial injuries benefits. Under the new Acts everyone will be required by law to make a weekly
01:08contribution to the scheme. If you're in business on your own account you should have registered as
01:15a self-employed contributor and pay six and tuppence each week. Well maybe you're what we call an
01:22unemployed person paying four and eight pence a week. You should also have registered unless
01:27you're a housewife. Well then you must be an employed contributor, the biggest class of the lot. You'll
01:33pay four and eleven pence each week and your employer another four and tuppence. If you've
01:38not been insured before you should have already registered. What? You mean I've got to pay all
01:44that every week. What a geyser. Yes and so will 22 million other people. You can keep it. I'd rather
01:52go back to the days before we had any of your wonderful insurance. It's no good running away
02:00from things. Even if you go right back to the very beginning of time.
02:05you can keep it.
02:06you can keep it.
02:53the first living creature to discover land was no doubt looking for security.
03:11you can keep it.
03:11you can keep it.
03:28you can keep it.
03:37The first man to discover a cave was looking for security.
03:50In the Middle Ages men banded together to protect themselves.
03:56you can keep it.
03:56you can keep it.
04:36you can keep it.
04:38you can keep it.
04:41you can keep it.
04:46you can keep it.
04:56In time of danger the castle spelt security.
05:03As time went on there were other dangers to be faced. One of the greatest was unemployment.
05:21To be thrown out of work then meant begging in the streets.
05:24As time goes, it was not Stefan.
05:26You can keep it.
05:27Be still, Boone.
05:30Be still.
05:36Can't.
05:40What's your son?
05:47They are at the house for a place.
05:48Let's go.
05:53This is for a good place.
05:54The first poor law system was established in Elizabeth's reign and was followed by a compulsory poor relief rate.
06:01The poor became the concern of the parish.
06:04By the middle of the 17th century, newcomers were deported if they looked like being a charge on the parish.
06:38Another constant peril was sickness.
06:48With the breadwinner laid low, he and his family were likely to starve.
06:54And should he die, his dependents had to rely on the workhouse.
07:08By an act of 1733, each parish had to provide a workhouse.
07:13And people who refused to work there got no relief.
07:16In 1834, the Elizabethan Poor Laws were amended.
07:20This was still severe on able-bodied poor, children and the sick.
07:25And by now, a new danger had arisen.
07:30Industrial injury.
07:33It was not until 1897 that the first Workman's Compensation Act made employers liable for injuries to workers in a
07:41few dangerous industries.
07:42and paved the way for further improvements.
07:53The first old age pension, a few shillings a week for the over 70s, came into force in 1908.
08:01All right, all right, that's enough.
08:08Other measures were on the way.
08:121911, First National Insurance Act.
08:141920, Second Unemployment Insurance Act.
08:171925, Contributory Pensions Act.
08:191930, Poor Law Act.
08:201934, Third Unemployment Act.
08:221936, National Health Insurance Act.
08:231941, Beverage Report.
08:271936, National Health Insurance Act.
08:291936, National Health Insurance Act.
08:29Phew, am I glad to be back.
08:32The things I've been through.
08:35Well, does it cost too much to avoid all that?
08:38And only a scheme like this can afford you such high benefits.
08:43Come on, now, it's worth it, isn't it?
08:45Every penny of it.
08:47Come to think of it, I'm paying out quite a lot now in bits and pieces.
08:52I'm just in time to find out all about it before the scheme starts.
08:58You can get the address of your national insurance place from the post office.
Comments