National Insurance Act 1911

[1 & 2 geo. 5. Ch. 55.]

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Part I. National health insurance.

Insured Persons.

Insured persons.
Exemptions.

Contributions.

Contributions by insured persons, employers, and the Treasury.
Rates and rules for contributions by employed contributors and their employers.
Rates and rules for contributions by voluntary contributors.
Change from voluntary rate to employed rate and vice- versa.
Power to make regulations for the payment of contributions.

Benefits.

Benefits.
Reduced rates of benefit in certain cases.
Reduced rates of benefits where contributions are in arrear.
Provisions in the case of contributors entitled to compensation or damages.
Provisions in the case of contributors who are inmates of hospitals, &c.
Power to vary benefits in certain cases.

Administration of Benefits.

Administration of benefits by approved societies or the Insurance Committee.
Administration of medical benefit.
Administration of sanatorium benefit.
Power to extend sanatorium benefit to dependants.
Administration of maternity benefit.
Punishment of husband in certain cases of neglect.
Reinsurance for the purposes of maternity benefit.
Power to subscribe to hospitals, &c.
Power of councils of boroughs and districts to contribute to certain expenditure on medical and sanatorium benefits.

Approved Societies.

Conditions for the approval of approved societies.
Power of societies to undertake business under Part I.
Special provisions for employers’ provident funds, &c.
Security to be given by approved societies.
Provisions as to approved societies.
Secessions, &c.
Withdrawal of approval.

Membership of Approved Societies and Transfer of Members.

Admission of insured persons to membership in approved societies.

31.Transfer from one approved society to another.

32.Transfers to foreign and colonial societies.

33.Transfer values of emigrants who remain members of approved societies.

Prohibition against double insurance.

Accounts : Valuations : Surplus and Deficit.

35.Approved societies to keep proper accounts.

Valuations of approved societies.
Surplus.
Deficit.
Pooling arrangements in the case of small societies.

40.Special provisions with regard to societies with branches.

Power to separate men’s and women’s funds.

Deposit Insurance

Provisions as to deposit contributors.
Transfer from approved society to deposit insurance and vice versa.

Provisions as to Special Classes of Insured Persons.

Special provisions with respect to married women.
Special provisions as to aliens.
Special provisions with regard to persons in the naval and military service of the Crown.
Special provisions where employer liable to pay wages during sickness.
Special provisions as to the mercantile marine.
Provisions as to persons over sixty-five at commencement of Act.
Special provisions as to seasonal trades.
Special provisions as to inmates of charitable homes, &c.
Special provision as to persons becoming certificated teachers.
Application to other persons in the service of the Crown.

Financial Provisions.

National Health Insurance Fund.
Reserve values.
Transactions between the Insurance Commissioners and societies.

Insurance Commissioners: Advisory Committee.

Constitution of Insurance Commissioners, appointment of inspectors, &c.
Appointment of advisory committee.

Insurance Committees.

Appointment of Insurance Committees.

60 .Powers and duties of Insurance Committees.

Income.
Local medical committees.

Excessive Sickness.

Inquiries into causes of excessive sickness, &c.

Supplementary Provisions.

Provision of sanatoria, &c.
Power to Insurance Commissioners to make regulations, &c.
Determination of questions by Insurance Commissioners.
Disputes.
Protection against distress and execution in certain cases.
Offences.
Civil proceedings against employer for neglecting to pay contributions.
Repayment of benefits improperly paid.
Provisions as to application of existing funds of friendly societies.
Provisions as to existing employers’ provident funds.
Provisions as to minors who are members of approved societies.
Power for societies to register under Friendly Societies Act, 1896.
Application of Acts of Parliament to approved societies and sections.
Powers of the Local Government Board.
Power to remove difficulties.
Interpretation.
Application to Scotland.
Application to Ireland.
Establishment of Commissioners for Wales.
Joint Committee of Commissioners.

Part II Unemployment Insurance.

Right of workmen in insured trades to unemployment benefit.
Contributions by workmen, employers, and the Treasury.
Statutory conditions for receipt of unemployment benefit.
Disqualifications for unemployment benefit.
Determination of claims.
Appointment of umpire, insurance officers, inspectors, &c.
Courts of referees.
Regulations.
Unemployment fund.
Treasury advances.
Refund of part of contributions paid by employer in the case of workmen continuously employed.
Repayment of part of contributions by workmen in certain cases.
Refund of contributions paid in respect of workmen working short time.
Saving for occasional employment in rural neighbourhoods.
Payment of contributions in case of Reservists or Territorials during training.
Provisions with respect to workmen engaged through labour exchanges.
Subsidiary provisions.
Offences and proceedings for recovery of contributions, &c.
Periodical revision of rates of contribution.
Power to extend to other trades.
Exclusion of subsidiary occupations.
Arrangements with associations of workmen in insured trade who make payments to members whilst unemployed.
Repayments to associations who make payments to persons, whether workmen in insured trade or not, whilst unemployed.
Interpretation and application.

Part III. General

108.Provisions as to stamps.

Outdoor relief.
Priority of claims for contributions due by bankrupt employers.
Benefits to be inalienable.
Powers of inspectors.
Procedure for making special orders.
Provisions as to birth certificates.
Short title and commencement.

Schedules.

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:—

Part I. National Health Insurance.

Insured Persons.

1.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, all persons insured per-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 specified 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.

2.—(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.

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.

4.—(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.

5.—(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.

6.—(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 contributions at the voluntary rate payable by the contributor, and, if the contributor fails to pay the balance, he shall be deemed to be in arrear to that extent.

4) Where an employed contributor within five years from his entry into insurance ceases to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act and becomes a voluntary contributor, he shall be deemed to be in arrear, as from the date when he so became a voluntary contributor, to the amount of the difference between the aggregate contributions paid by or in respect of him since his entry into insurance and the aggregate of the contributions which would have been payable by him had he throughout been a*voluntary contributor, and the difference between any reserve value which is credited to the approved society of which he is a member in respect of him and the reserve value (if any) which would have been credited to that society in respect of him had he originally become a voluntary contributor shall be cancelled.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Insurance Power to make Commissioners may make regulations providing for any matters in payment of incidental to the payment and collection of contributions contributions, payable under this Part of this Act, and in particular for—

(a) payment of contributions whether by means of adhesive or other stamps affixed to or impressed upon books or cards, or otherwise, and regulating the manner, times, and conditions in, at, and under which such stamps are to be affixed or impressed or payments are otherwise to be made ;

(b) the entry in or upon books or cards of particulars of contributions paid and benefits distributed in the case of the insured persons to whom such books or cards belong ;

(c) the issue, sale, custody, production, and delivery up of books or cards and the replacement of books or cards which have been lost, destroyed, or defaced.

Benefits.

8.— (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the benefits Benefits, conferred by this Part of this Act upon insured persons are—

(a) Medical treatment and attendance, including the provision of proper and sufficient medicines, and such medical and surgical appliances as may be prescribed by regulations to be made by the Insurance Commissioners (in this Act called “medical benefit”) ;

(b) Treatment in sanatoria or other institutions or other wise when suffering from tuberculosis, or such other diseases as the Local Government Board with the approval of the Treasury may appoint (in this Act called “sanatorium benefit”);

(c) Periodical payments whilst rendered incapable of work by some specific disease or by bodily or mental disablement, of which notice has been given, commencing from the fourth day after being so rendered incapable of work, and continuing for a period not exceeding twenty-six weeks (in this Act called “sickness benefit”);

(d) In the case of the disease or disablement continuing after the determination of sickness benefit, periodical payments so long as so rendered incapable of work by the disease or disablement (in this Act called “disablement benefit”);

(e) Payment in the case of the confinement of the wife or, where the child is a posthumous child, of the widow of an insured person, or of any other woman who is an insured person, of a sum of thirty shillings (in this Act called “maternity benefit”) ;

(f) In the case of persons entitled under this Part of this Act to any of the further benefits mentioned in Part II. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act (in this Act called “additional benefits”) such of those benefits as they may be entitled to.

2) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the rates of sickness benefit and disablement benefit to which insured persons are entitled shall be the rates specified in Part I. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act.

3) In the case of insured persons who have attained the age of seventy, the right to sickness benefit and disablement benefit shall cease.

4) No insured person shall be entitled to any benefit during any period when he is resident either temporarily or permanently outside the United Kingdom:

Provided that, if a person is temporarily resident in the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, he shall not, whilst so resident, be disentitled to benefits other than medical benefit, and that, if with the consent of the society or committee by which the benefit is administered a person is temporarily resident outside the United Kingdom elsewhere than in the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, the society or committee may allow him, whilst so resident, to continue to receive sickness or disablement benefit, and that a person resident out of the United Kingdom shall not be disentitled to maternity benefit in respect of the confinement of his wife, if his wife at the time of her confinement is resident in the United Kingdom.

5) Where an insured person, having been in receipt of sickness benefit, recovers from the disease or disablement in respect of which he receives such benefit, any subsequent disease or disablement, or a recurrence of the same disease or disablement, shall be deemed to be a continuation of the previous disease or disablement, unless in the meanwhile a period of at least twelve months has elapsed, and at least fifty weekly contributions have been paid by or in respect of him.

6) Where a woman confined of a child is herself an insured person, and is a married woman, or, if the child is a posthumous child, a widow, she shall be entitled to sickness benefit or disablement benefit (as the case may be) in respect of her confinement in addition to the maternity benefit to which she or her husband may be entitled, but, save as aforesaid, a woman shall not be entitled to sickness benefit or disablement benefit for a period of four weeks after her confinement, unless suffering from disease or disablement not connected directly or indirectly with her confinement. Medical benefit shall not include any right to medical treatment or attendance in respect of a confinement.

7) Where a pension or superannuation allowance is payable by an approved society in whole or in part as an additional benefit under this Part of this Act, or out of any fund to which contributions have been made in accordance with paragraph (10) of Part II. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, it may be made a condition of the grant of the pension or allowance that a member of the society shall, whilst in receipt of such pension or allowance, be excluded in whole or in part from his right to sickness benefit and disablement benefit, or to either of such benefits.

8) Notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act no insured person shall be entitled—

(a) to medical benefit during the first six months after the commencement of this Act;

(b) to sickness benefit, unless and until twenty-six weeks have elapsed since his entry into insurance, and at least twenty-six weekly contributions have been paid by or in respect of him ;

(c) to disablement benefit, unless and until one hundred and four weeks have elapsed since his entry into insurance, and at least one hundred and four weekly contributions have been paid by or in respect of him ;

(d) to maternity benefit, unless and until twenty-six, or in the case of a voluntary contributor fifty-two, weeks have elapsed since his entry into insurance, and at least twenty-six, or in the case of a voluntary contributor fifty-two, weekly contributions have been paid by or in respect of him.

(9) As soon as the sums credited to approved societies as reserve values in respect of persons who enter into insurance within one year after the commencement of this Act have been written off in manner provided by this Part of this Act, the benefits payable to insured persons under this Part of this Act shall be extended in such manner as Parliament may determine.

9.—(1) In the case of insured persons who are under the age of twenty-one years and unmarried, sickness benefit and disablement benefit shall be at the reduced rates specified in Table B. in Part I. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act :Provided that, where any such person being a member of an approved society proves that one or more members of his family are wholly or mainly dependent upon him, the society shall dispense with such reduction.

(2) Where, in the case of any insured persons, the rate of sickness benefit or disablement benefit (as the case may be) exceeds two-thirds of the usual rate of wages or other remuneration earned by such persons, the rate of such benefit may be reduced to such an extent as the society or committee administering the benefit, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, determines : but. Where such reduction is made, provision shall be made by the society or committee, with the like consent for the grant of one or more additional benefits of a value equivalent to such reduction.

(3) The rate of sickness benefit shall be reduced in accordance with Table C. in Part I. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act in the case of any insured person who becomes an employed contributor within one year after the commencement of this Act, and is at the date of so becoming an employed contributor of the age of fifty years or upwards and the number of weekly contributions paid by or in respect of him is, at the date of any claim by him for such benefit, less than five hundred.

(4) In the case of every person who, not having been previously insured under this Part of this Act, becomes an employed contributor subsequently to the expiration of one year from the commencement of this Act, and. is, at the time of so becoming an employed contributor, of the age of seventeen or upwards, the rate of sickness benefit to which he is entitled shall (unless he proves that his time since he attained the age of seventeen has been spent in a school or college, in indentured apprenticeship or otherwise under instruction without wages, or otherwise in the completion of his education, or unless he undertakes himself to pay the difference between the voluntary rate and the employed rate, or pays to the Insurance Commissioners, to be credited to the society, such capital sum as will be sufficient to secure him benefits at the full rate) be such reduced rate as may be fixed in accordance with tables to be prepared by the Insurance Commissioners, but not in any case less than five shillings a week:

Provided that, if at any time subsequently such person would become entitled to sickness benefit at a higher rate if he were treated as having become an employed contributor as from the time when he attained the age of seventeen, or as from the expiration of one year after the commencement of this Act, whichever date may be the later, and as being in arrear for all contributions which, had he become an employed contributor at that date, would have been payable in respect of him between that date and the date when he actually became an employed contributor, he shall, if he so elects, be entitled to be so treated.

10.—(1) Where an insured person being a member of an approved society is in arrear to an amount greater than thirteen weekly contributions a year on the average since his entry into insurance, his right to benefits under this Part of this Act other than medical benefit, sanatorium benefit, and maternity benefit shall be suspended, and, where he is in arrears to an amount greater than twenty-six weekly contributions a year on the average since his entry into insurance, his right to medical benefit, sanatorium benefit, and maternity benefit shall be suspended, and at the expiration of the calendar year next after the date when he becomes suspended from all benefits any sums credited to the society in respect of him, calculated in the prescribed manner, shall, if his right to benefits still continues to be suspended, be carried to such account and dealt with in such manner as may be prescribed for the benefit (except so far as such sums comprise sums in respect of a reserve value) of the society or any other society to which such person may subsequently be transferred:

Provided that, if at any time after suspension from any such benefits he becomes employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, he shall be entitled to those benefits at such rate, after the lapse of such time and after the payment of such number of contributions, as would have been applicable to his case had he not previously been an insured person, but, if he so elects at any time, the benefits to which he is entitled shall be such as he would be entitled to, were the period from the time of his original entry into insurance taken as a whole.

(2) Where an employed contributor claiming sickness benefit is at the date of such claim in arrears but the arrears are less than as aforesaid, then the rate of sickness benefit shall be reduced to a sum not less than five shillings a week, or the time when sickness benefit commences deferred, proportionately to the amount of arrears in accordance with the table in the Fifth Schedule to this Act.

(3) Where a voluntary contributor is in arrears, he shall be liable to such proportionate reduction of benefits as may be prescribed.

(4) In calculating arrears of contributions, no account shall be taken of any arrears accruing—

(a) during any period when the person in question has been, or but for this section or any other provision of this Act disentitling a person to such benefit, would have been, in receipt of sickness benefit or disablement benefit; or

(b) in the case of a woman who, being an insured person, is herself entitled to maternity benefit, during two weeks before and four weeks after her delivery, or in the case of maternity benefit payable in respect of the posthumous child of an insured person, during the period subsequent to the father’s death; or

(c) in the case of an employed contributor, during the first twelve months after the commencement of this Act; but, save as aforesaid, contributions shall be deemed to be payable in respect of every week from the date of entry into insurance.

(5) Where an insured person has paid any arrears of contributions payable by or in respect of him which accrued during the calendar year current at the date of payment and the previous calendar year, he shall be treated for the purposes of this section as if the arrears so paid had never become due:

Provided that, if such person is at the date of payment or subsequently within one month thereafter becomes incapable of work by reason of disease or disablement, he shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be still in arrear in respect of the amount so paid until after the expiration of one month from the date of such payment.

(6) Any approved society may, if it thinks fit, excuse any part of the arrears which may have accrued due by or in respect of any member who is an employed contributor during any period of unemployment not exceeding such part as would have been payable by the employer had the member continued in his last employment, and in such case the amount of the arrears of that member shall be reduced accordingly.

(7)The average amount of arrears for the purposes of this section shall be calculated in such manner as the Insurance Commissioners may prescribe.

11.—(1) Where an insured person has received or recovered or is entitled to receive or recover, whether from his employer or any other person, any compensation or damages under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1906, or any scheme certified thereunder, or under the Employers’ Liability Act, 1880, or at common law, in respect of any injury or disease, the following provisions shall apply :—

(a) No sickness benefit or disablement benefit shall be paid to such person in respect of that injury or disease in any case where any weekly sum or the weekly value of any lump sum paid or payable by way of compensation or damages is equal to or greater than the benefit otherwise payable to such person, and, where any such weekly sum or the weekly value of any such lump sum is less than the benefit in question, such part only of the benefit shall be paid as, together with the weekly sum or the weekly value of the lump sum, will be equal to the benefit:

(b) The weekly value of any such lump sum as aforesaid may be determined by the society or committee by which the sickness and disablement benefits payable to such person are administered, but, if the insured person is aggrieved by such determination, the matter shall be settled in manner provided by this Part of this Act for settling disputes between insured persons and societies or committees :

(c) Where an agreement is made as to the amount of such compensation as aforesaid, and the amount so agreed is less than ten shillings a week, or as to the redemption of a weekly payment by a lump sum, under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1906, the employer shall, within three days thereafter, or such longer time as may be prescribed, send to the Insurance Commissioners, or to the society or committee concerned, notice in writing of such agreement giving tlft prescribed particulars thereof, and proviso (d) to paragraph (9) of the Second Schedule of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1906 (which relates to the powers of registrars of county courts to refuse to record memoranda of agreements and to refer the matter to the judge) shall, in cases where the work-man is an insured person, apply to agreements as to the amount of compensation in like manner as to agreements as to the redemption of weekly payments by lump sums.

(2) Where an insured person appears to be entitled to any such compensation or damages as aforesaid and unreasonably refuses or neglects to take proceedings to enforce his claim, it shall be lawful for the society or committee concerned, either—

(a) at its own expense, to take in the name and on behalf of such person such proceedings, in which case any compensation or damages recovered shall be held by the society or committee as trustee for the insured person; or

(b) to withhold payment of any benefit to which apart from this section such person would be entitled. In the event of the society or committee concerned taking proceedings as aforesaid and failing in the proceedings, it shall be responsible for the costs of the proceedings as if it were claiming on its own account.

(3) Nothing in this section shall prevent the society or committee paying to an insured person benefit by way of advance pending the settlement of his claim for compensation or damages, and any advance so made shall, without prejudice to any other method of recovery, be recoverable by deductions from or suspension of any benefits which may subsequently become payable to such person.

12.—(1) No payment shall be made on account of sickness disablement or maternity benefit to or in respect of any person during any period when the person to or in respect of whom the benefit is payable is an inmate of any workhouse, hospital, asylum, convalescent home, or infirmary, supported by any public authority or out of any public funds or by a charity, or voluntary subscriptions, or of a sanatorium or similar institution approved under this Part of this Act.

(2) During such period as aforesaid the sum which would otherwise have been payable on account of any such benefit to or in respect of such person—

(a) shall be paid to or applied in whole or in part for the relief or maintenance of his dependants (if any) in such manner as the society or committee by which the benefit is administered, after consultation whenever possible with such person, thinks fit; or

(b) if such person, being a member of an approved society, is an inmate of a sanatorium or similar institution in which he is receiving treatment in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act, and has no dependants, shall be paid to the Insurance Committee towards the general purposes thereof; or

(c) if such person, being a member of an approved society,is an inmate of a hospital, asylum, convalescent home, or infirmary supported by a charity or by voluntary subscriptions and has no dependants, shall, if an agreement for the purpose has been made between the society or committee and the hospital, asylum, convalescent home, or infirmary, be paid, in whole or in part, according to such agreement, towards the maintenance of such person in the hospital, asylum, convalescent home, or infirmary: Provided that—

(i) any part of such sum which is not so applied as aforesaid may, if the society or committee thinks fit, be applied in the provision of any surgical appliances required for the insured person or otherwise for his benefit; and

(ii) if such an inmate as aforesaid is a married woman or widow, and the sums so payable or applicable as aforesaid include the sums which would have been payable both on account of sickness or disablement benefit and on account of maternity benefit, no part of the sum which would otherwise be payable on account of maternity benefit shall be paid or applied for the relief or maintenance of her dependants, but such sum may be paid to the hospital, asylum, convalescent home, or infirmary of which she is an inmate as aforesaid in like manner as if she had no dependants.

(iii)Where any person who is entitled to any benefit under this Part of this Act, or a woman whose husband is entitled to maternity benefit in respect of her confinement, applies for admission to any workhouse infirmary, admission thereto shall not be refused on the ground only of the right to such benefit.

13.—(1) Any approved society may submit to the Insurance Commissioners a scheme for substituting any of the additional benefits for sickness benefit and disablement benefit or either of those benefits or any part thereof, and the scheme may provide as respects the members of the society to whom the scheme applies that any such benefits shall be abolished or the rate thereof reduced or, in the case of sickness benefit, the commencement thereof postponed; and the scheme may contain such incidental and consequential provisions as appear necessary for adapting the other provisions of this Part of this Act to the members to whom the scheme applies.

(2) The scheme shall apply either to all members of the society or to any specified class thereof or to any members of the society who may elect to come under the scheme, according as may be provided by the scheme.

(3) A scheme made under this section shall not have any effect unless and until confirmed by the Insurance Commisioners, and the Insurance Commissioners shall not confirm any such scheme unless satisfied that the value of the additional benefits conferred by the scheme is equivalent to the value of the benefits for which they are substituted, and that, in view of the special circumstances of the members or class of members intended to come under the scheme, there is good reason for substituting the additional benefits conferred by the scheme for the benefits for which they are substituted.

(4) Nothing in this section or in any scheme made thereunder shall affect the amount of any reserve value to be credited to a society in respect of a member, and such reserve values shall be calculated as if the scheme had not been made.

Administration of Benefits.

14.—(1) Sickness benefit, disablement benefit, and maternity benefit shall be administered, in the case of insured persons who are members of an approved society, by and through the society, or a branch thereof, and in other cases by and through the Insurance Committees; medical and sanatorium benefits shall in all cases be administered by and through the Insurance Committees, additional benefits shall be administered by the society or branch of which the persons entitled thereto are members, except where such benefits are in the nature of medical benefits, in which case they shall be administered by and through the Insurance Committees.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, an approved society may, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, provide for the application of its existing rules or make new rules with regard to the manner and time of paying or distributing, and mode of calculating, benefits, suspension of benefits, notices and proof of disease or disablement, behaviour during disease or disablement, and the visiting of sick or disabled persons, and for the infliction and enforcement of penalties (whether by way of fines or suspension of benefits or otherwise) in the case of any member being an insured person who is guilty of any breach of any such rule, or of any imposition or attempted imposition in respect of any benefit under this Part of this Act, and may, from time to time with the like consent, alter or repeal any such rules; but—

(a) no fine imposed under any such rule shall exceed ten shillings or, in the case of repeated breaches of rules, twenty shillings;

(b) no such rule shall provide for the suspension of any benefit for a period exceeding one year ;

(c) every such rule relating to the visiting of insured persons by visitors appointed by the society shall provide that women shall not be visited otherwise than by women;

(d) every such rule relating to behaviour during disease or disablement shall be in the prescribed form ;

(e) no such rule shall prescribe any penalty, nor shall any insured person be subject to any penalty, whether by suspension of benefit or otherwise, on account of the refusal by any such person to submit to a surgical operation, or vaccination, or inoculation of any kind, unless such refusal in the case of a surgical operation of a minor character is considered by the society, or on appeal the Insurance Commissioners, unreasonable;

(f) No such rule shall provide for inflicting as a penalty for breach of rules or imposition or attempted imposition on the part of an insured person suspension of maternity benefit in respect of the confinement of his wife, where his wife has not herself been guilty of any such breach, imposition, or attempted imposition.

(3) The Insurance Committee shall, subject to the approval of the Insurance Commissioners, make rules in respect of any of the matters mentioned in the last preceding subsection with regard to the administration of benefits by the committee;

Provided that no such rule relating to anything to be done by, to, or through the Post Office shall be made without the consent of the Postmaster-General.

(4) Where, under any such rule as aforesaid, payment of sickness or disablement benefit is suspended on the ground that the disease or disablement has been caused by the misconduct of the person claiming the benefit, such person shall not thereby become disentitled to medical benefit.

(5) Where under any Act regulating the constitution of a society which becomes an approved society the rules of the society are required to be registered, any rules approved under this section by the Insurance Commissioners shall forthwith be registered, but till so registered shall have effect as if they had been duly registered.

15.—(1) Every Insurance Committee shall, for the purpose of administering medical benefit, make arrangements with duly qualified medical practitioners in accordance with regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners.

(2) The regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners shall provide for the arrangements made being subject to the approval of the Insurance Commissioners and being such as to secure that insured persons shall, save as herein-after provided, receive adequate medical attendance and treatment from the medical practitioners with whom arrangements are so made, and shall require the adoption by every Insurance Committee of such system as will secure—

(a) the preparation and publication of lists of medical practitioners who have agreed to attend and treat insured persons whose medical benefit is administered by the committee;

(b) a right on the part of any duly qualified medical practitioner who is desirous of being included in any such list as aforesaid of being so included, but, where the Insurance Commissioners, after such inquiry as may be prescribed, are satisfied that his continuance in the list would be prejudicial to the efficiency of the medical service of the insured, they may remove his name from the list;

(c) a right on the part of any insured person of selecting, at such periods as may be prescribed, from the appropriate list the practitioner by whom he wishes to be attended and treated, and, subject to the consent of the practitioner so selected, of being attended and treated by him;

(d) the distribution amongst, and so far as practicable,under arrangements made by, the several practitioners whose names are on the lists, of the insured persons who after due notice have failed to make any selection, or who have been refused by the practitioner whom they have selected;

(e) the provision of medical attendance and treatment on the same terms as to remuneration as those arranged with respect to insured persons, to members of any friendly society which, or a separate section of which, becomes an approved society who were such members at the date of the passing of this Act, and who are not entitled to medical benefit under this Part of this Act by reason either that they are of the age of sixty-five or upwards at the date of the commencement of this Act, or that being subject to permanent disablement at that date they are not qualified to become insured persons:

Provided that, if the Insurance Commissioners are satisfied after inquiry that the practitioners included in any list are not such as to secure an adequate medical service in any area, they may dispense with the necessity of the adoption of such system as aforesaid as respects that area, and authorise the Committee to make such other arrangements as the Commissioners may approve; or the Commissioners may themselves make such arrangements as they think fit, or may suspend the right to medical benefit in respect of any insured persons in the area for such period as they think fit, and pay to each such person a sum equal to the estimated cost of his medical benefit during that period, and, where the Commissioners take any such action themselves, they shall retain and apply for the purpose such part of the sums payable to the Insurance Committee in respect of medical benefit as may be required.

(3) The regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners shall authorise the Insurance Committee by which medical benefit is administered to require any persons whose income exceeds a limit to be fixed by the Committee, and to allow any other persons, in lieu of receiving medical benefit under such arrangements as aforesaid, to make their own arrangements for receiving medical attendance and treatment (including medicines and appliances), and in such case the Committee shall, subject to the regulations, contribute from the funds out of which medical benefit is payable towards the cost of medical attendance and treatment (including medicines and appliances) for such persons sums not exceeding in the aggregate the amounts which the Committee would otherwise have expended in providing medical benefit for them.

(4) The regulations shall provide that, in the case of persons who are entitled to receive medical attendance and treatment under any system or through any institution existing at the time of the passing of this Act and approved by the Insurance Committee and the Insurance Commissioners, such medical attendance and treatment may be treated as, or as part of, their medical benefit under this Part of this Act, and may provide for the Committee contributing towards the expenses thereof the whole or any part of the sums which would be contributed in the case of persons who have made their own arrangements as aforesaid, so, however, that such regulations shall secure that no person be deprived of his right, if he so elects, of selecting the duly .qualified medical practitioner by whom he wishes to be attended and treated, in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section.

(5) Every such Committee shall also make provision for the supply of proper and sufficient drugs and medicines and prescribed appliances to insured persons in accordance with regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners, which shall provide for the arrangements made being subject to the approval of the Insurance Commissioners and being such as to enable insured persons to obtain from any persons, firms, or bodies corporate with whom arrangements have been made such drugs, medicines, and appliances if ordered by the medical practitioner by whom they are attended, and shall require the adoption by every Insurance Committee of such a system as will secure—

(a) The preparation and publication of lists of persons, firms, and bodies corporate who have agreed to supply drugs, medicines, and appliances to insured persons whose medical benefit is administered by the Committee, according to such scale of prices as may be fixed by the Committee

(b) A right on the part of any person, firm, or body corporate desirous of being included in any such list as aforesaid of being so included, for the purpose of supplying such drugs, medicines, and appliances as such person, firm, or body corporate is entitled by law and authorised by the Committee to supply, except in cases where the Insurance Commissioners after inquiry are satisfied that the inclusion or continuance of the person, firm, or body corporate in such list would be prejudicial to the efficiency of the service:

Provided that—

(i) If the Insurance Commissioners are satisfied that the scale of prices fixed by the Committee is reasonable, but that the persons, firms, or bodies corporate included in any list are not such as to secure an adequate and convenient supply of drugs, medicines, and appliances in any area, they may dispense with the necessity of the adoption of such system as aforesaid as respects that area and authorise the Committee to make such other arrangements as the Commissioners may approve;

(ii) Except as may be provided by regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners, no arrangement shall be made by the Insurance Committee with a medical practitioner under which he is bound or agrees to supply drugs or medicine to any insured persons;

(iii) Subject to the regulations made by the last foregoing-proviso the regulations shall prohibit arrangements for the dispensing of medicines being made with persons other than persons, firms, or bodies corporate entitled to carry on the business of a chemist and druggist under the provisions of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, as amended by the Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908, who undertake that all medicines supplied by them to insured persons-shall be dispensed either by or under the direct supervision of a registered pharmacist or by a person who, for three years immediately prior to the passing of this Act, has acted as a dispenser to a duly qualified medical practitioner or a public institution;

(iv) Nothing in this Act shall interfere with the rights and privileges conferred by the Apothecaries Act, 1815, upon any person qualified under that Act to act as an assistant to any apothecary in compounding and dispensing medicines.

(6) There shall in each year be paid to the Insurance Committee for each county or county borough out of moneys credited to a society which has members resident in the county or county borough such sum in respect of the medical benefit of such members and the cost of administration thereof as may be agreed between the society and committee or, in default of agreement, may be determined by the Insurance Commissioners.

(7) If in any year the amount payable to an Insurance Committee in respect of all persons for the administration of whose medical benefit it is responsible is insufficient to meet the estimated expenditure thereon, the Committee may, through the Insurance Commissioners, transmit to the Treasury and to the council of the county or county borough an account showing the amount so payable and the estimated expenditure, and the Treasury and the county council or the council of the county borough may, if they think fit and if satisfied that the amounts so payable and the proposed expenditure are reasonable and proper in the circumstances, sanction the expenditure.

(8)The Treasury and the council of the county or county borough sanctioning any such expenditure as aforesaid shall thereupon each be liable to make good, in the case of the Treasury out of moneys provided by Parliament, and, in the case of the council of a county or county borough, out of the county fund or borough fund or borough rate, as the case may be, one half of any sums so sanctioned by them and expended by the Insurance Committee on medical benefit in the course of the year in excess of the amounts so payable to the Insurance Committee as aforesaid.

16.—(1) For the purpose of administering sanatorium benefit, Insurance Committees shall make arrangements, to the . satisfaction of the Insurance Commissioners,—

(a) with a view to providing treatment for insured persons suffering from tuberculosis or any other such disease as aforesaid in sanatoria and other institutions, with persons or local authorities (other than poor law authorities) having the management of sanatoria or other institutions approved by the Local Government Board, which treatment it shall be lawful for a local authority to provide as respects insured persons resident outside as well as respects those resident within their area; and

(b) with a view to providing treatment for such persons otherwise than in sanatoria or other institutions, with persons and local authorities (other than poor law authorities) undertaking such treatment in a manner approved by the Local Government Board, which treatment (including the appointment of officers for the purpose) it shall be lawful for a local authority, if so authorised by the Local Government Board, to undertake.

(2) The sums available for defraying the expenses of sanatorium benefit in each year shall be—

(a) one shilling and threepence in respect of each insured person resident in the county or county borough, payable out of the funds out of which benefits are payable under this Part of this Act;

(b) one penny in respect of each such person payable out of moneys provided by Parliament:

Provided that the Insurance Commissioners may retain the whole or any part of the sums so payable out of moneys provided by Parliament to be applied, in accordance with regulations made by the Commissioners, for the purposes of research.

(3) An insured person shall not be entitled to sanatorium benefit unless the Insurance Committee recommends the case for such benefit.

(4)An Insurance Committee may, out of the sums available for defraying the expenses of sanatorium treatment, defray in whole or in part the expenses of the conveyance of an insured person to or from any sanatorium or institution to which he may be sent for treatment therein, or may make advances for the purpose.

17.—(1) The Insurance Committee for any county or county borough may, if it thinks fit, extend sanatorium benefit to the dependants of the insured persons resident in the county, or to dependants. any part of the county, or in the county borough, or any class of such dependants, and in such case the arrangements to be made by the committee shall include arrangements for the treatment of such dependants, and the sums available for sanatorium benefit shall be applicable to the purpose.

(2) If in any year the amount available for defraying the expenses of sanatorium benefit is insufficient to meet the estimated expenditure on sanatorium benefit for insured persons and such dependants, the Insurance Committee may, through the Insurance Commissioners, transmit to the Treasury and the council of the county or county borough an account showing the estimated expenditure for the purpose and the amount of the sums available for defraying the expenses of sanatorium benefit, and the Treasury and council may if they think fit sanction such expenditure.

(3) The Treasury and the council of the county or county borough sanctioning such expenditure as aforesaid shall thereupon each be liable to make good, in the case of the Treasury out of moneys provided by Parliament, and, in the case of the council of the county or county borough, out of the county fund or borough fund or borough rate, as the case may be, one-half of any sums so sanctioned by them and expended by the Insurance Committee on sanatorium benefit for insured persons and their dependants in the course of the year in excess of the amount available for defraying the expenses of the committee on sanatorium benefit.

18.—(1) Where the mother of the child is herself an insured person, and is not the wife or, in the case of a posthumous child, the widow of an insured person, maternity benefit shall be treated as a benefit for her and shall be administered in cash or otherwise by the approved society of which she is a member, or, if she is not a member of any society, by the Insurance Committee ; in any other case, the benefit shall be treated as a benefit for her husband and shall be administered in cash or otherwise by the approved society of which he is a member, or, if he is not a member of any such society, by the Insurance Committee, and shall be payable in respect of a posthumous child as if the husband were still alive:

Provided always that the mother shall decide whether she shall be attended by a duly qualified medical practitioner or by a duly certified midwife, and shall have free choice in the selection of such practitioner or midwife, but if, in the case of a midwife being selected, a duly qualified medical practitioner is subsequently summoned in pursuance of the rules made under the Midwives Act, 1902, the prescribed fee shall, subject to regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners, be recoverable as part of the maternity benefit.

(2) In deciding whether or not they shall make an order under the Bastardy Laws Amendment Act, 1872, for the payment of the expenses incidental to the birth of a child, the justices shall not take into consideration the fact that the mother of the child is entitled to receive maternity benefit under this Part of this Act.

Without prejudice to any other legal liability, where, under the immediately foregoing section, which relates to the administration of maternity benefit, of this Act, maternity benefit is given or paid to the husband, it shall be the duty of the husband to make adequate provision to the best of his power for the maintenance and care of his wife during her confinement, and for a period of four weeks after her delivery, and if he neglects or refuses to do so he shall be liable upon summary conviction to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding one month.
For the purpose of the administration of maternity benefit, the Insurance Commissioners may, if they think fit, by special order provide for the reinsurance with them of the liabilities of all approved societies in respect of maternity benefit, and the order may provide for the method of calculating the premiums to be charged against the several societies in respect of such reinsurances and may contain such other incidental, consequential, and supplemental provisions as may appear necessary for the purpose.
It shall be lawful for an approved society or Insurance Committee to grant such subscriptions or donations as it may think fit to hospitals, dispensaries, and other charitable institutions, or for the support of district nurses, and to appoint nurses for the purpose of visiting and nursing insured persons, and any sums so expended shall be treated as expenditure on such benefits under this Part of this Act as may be prescribed.

22.—(1) The council of any borough or urban or rural district may agree with the council of the county in which the borough or district is situate to repay to the latter council the whole or any part of the sums payable by that council in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act towards the excess expenditure on medical or sanatorium benefit so far as such excess is properly attributable to the borough or district, and any sums payable by the council of the borough or district in pursuance of such an agreement shall be payable, in the case of a borough, out of the borough fund or borough rate, and, in any other case, as part of the general expenses incurred by council in the execution of the Public Health Acts.

(2) The agreement may provide that the county council shall not raise any sum on account of any expenditure incurred by them under this Part of this Act for the purpose to which the agreement relates within the borough or urban or rural district the council of which has entered into such agreement, during the continuance of such agreement.

Approved Societies.

23.—(1) Any society, that is to say, any body of persons corporate or unincorporate (not being a branch of another such body), registered or established under any Act of Parliament, or by Royal Charter, or, if not so registered or established, having a constitution of such a character as may be prescribed, which complies with the requirements of this Act relating to approved societies, may be approved by the Insurance Commissioners, and, if so approved, shall be an approved society for the purposes of this Part of this Act:

Provided that, where any society establishes for the purposes of this Part of this Act a separate section consisting of insured persons, whether with or without honorary members not being insured persons, and so constituted as to comply with the requirements of this Act relating to approved societies, such separate section may be approved by the Insurance Commissioners, and, if so approved, shall be an approved society, and the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the conditions of approval of societies and to approved societies shall apply only to such separate section of the society.

(2) No society shall receive the approval of the Insurance Commissioners unless it satisfies the following conditions:—

(i) It must not be a society carried on for profit;

(ii) Its constitution must provide to the satisfaction of the Insurance Commissioners for its affairs being subject to the absolute control of its members being insured persons or, if the rules of the society so provide, of its members whether insured persons or not, including provision for the election, and removal of the committee of management or other governing body of the society, in the case of a society whose affairs are managed by delegates elected by members, by such delegates, and, in other cases, in such manner as will secure absolute control by its members ;

(iii) If the society has honorary members, its constitution must provide for excluding such honorary members from the right of voting in their capacity of members of the society on all questions and matters arising under this Part of this Act.

(3) Applications for approval under this section may be made and approval granted at any time before or after the commencement of this Act, and the Insurance Commissioners may grant approval either unconditionally or subject to the condition of the society taking within such time as the Commissioners may allow such steps as may be necessary to make the society comply with the requirements of this Part of this Act relating to approved societies.

24.—(1) It shall be lawful for any body of persons, corporate or unincorporate, established before the passing of this Act which under is desirous of transacting insurance business under this Part of this Act, or of making any amendments in its constitution, or administration, or contributions, or benefits, or otherwise which may be necessary or expedient in consequence, of the passing of this Act, notwithstanding anything in the provisions of the Acts under which it is established or registered or carried on, or of its memorandum or articles of association, rules, or other instruments governing its constitution or denning its objects, to do all such acts and things (including the establishment of a separate section as aforesaid) as may be necessary for the purpose of enabling the body to undertake the transaction of such business as soon as may be after the passing of this Act and, if the instrument regulating the constitution of the body contains provisions requiring any interval to elapse before action can be taken, such provisions shall not apply to action taken for the purposes aforesaid.

(2) Subsections (3) and (4) of section seventy of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, shall not apply to any resolutions for amalgamation or transfer of engagements when the resolution is made expressly for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

(3) This section shall come into operation on the passing of this Act, and shall not continue in force beyond the expiration of one year from the commencement of this Act, except so far as may be necessary to enable a society which has undertaken the transaction of insurance business under this Part of this Act to continue to transact such business.

25.—(1) Where a society consists of persons entitled to rights in a superannuation or other provident fund established for the benefit of persons employed by one or more employers, the society may be approved, notwithstanding that the employer is entitled to representation on the committee or other body administering the fund to an extent not exceeding one quarter of the total number of the body, if the employer, in addition to the employer’s contributions payable by him under this Part of this Act, is responsible for the solvency of the fund or for the benefits payable thereout, or is liable to pay a substantial part of, or to make substantial contributions to, or substantially to supplement, the benefits payable out of the fund:

Provided that no such society as aforesaid shall be approved unless by its constitution it is prohibited so far as concerns the benefits under this Part of this Act from refusing to allow a member to transfer to another approved society, and from refusing to allow a member who is discharged from or leaves the employment of the employer and is unable to obtain admission to another approved society on account of the state of his health to continue a member, and unless its. Constitution provides for the election of the members of the committee of management (other than the employer’s representatives) by ballot:

Provided also that no such society shall be approved if the employer makes membership of such society a condition of employment.

(2) Where, for the purpose of enabling any such society to become an approved society, it is necessary to make any alteration in the existing rules or constitution of the society which it is not competent for the society under its existing constitution to make, a scheme for the purpose may be submitted for the approval of the Insurance Commissioners.

(3) Where such a scheme has been approved by the Insurance Commissioners, the Act or deed constituting the society shall have effect subject to the provisions of the scheme, but the Insurance Commissioners shall not approve any such scheme unless they are satisfied that the members of the society have been given an opportunity of voting by ballot thereon, and that the scheme makes proper provision for safeguarding existing rights and interests.

26.—(1) Every approved society and every society desirous of becoming an approved society shall give such security as the Insurance Commissioners may consider sufficient to provide against any malversation or misappropriation by officers of the society of any funds coming to the hands of the society under this Part of this Act, and in determining the amount of the security to be required the Commissioners shall have regard to the amount of the funds so coming into the hands of the society:

Provided that no security shall be required from any society which proves to the Insurance Commissioners that the only funds coming into the hands of the society under this Part of this Act are such funds as are required for reimbursing to the society sums previously expended by the society under this Part of this Act.

(2) In the case of an approved society with branches having insured persons among their members, security shall be given in respect of each such branch by the society.

(3) The Insurance Commissioners may from time to time vary the amount of security to be given or maintained by an approved society as may be thought proper, and, where security is given by way of deposit of securities, the society which made the deposit may, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, substitute other securities for the securities for the time being deposited.

(4) Any dividends or interest arising from securities deposited by an approved society under this section shall be paid to the society.

27.—(1) Every approved society shall, as respects the administration of the affairs of the society under this Part of this Act, make proper provisions by rules to the satisfaction of the Insurance Commissioners for the government of the society, and if a society with branches—

(a) for the government of the society and its branches;

(b) for the determination of disputes arising ‘between the society and any branch thereof, or between one such branch and another;

(d) for the keeping of proper books of account by the branches in any case where separate accounts are usually kept by those branches ;

(e) for depriving of or suspending from the right of administering benefits under this Part of this Act any branch which is guilty of maladministration of those benefits, or is convicted of any offence under any Act, and for providing in such a case for their administration by the society or otherwise.

(2) Every approved society and every branch thereof shall comply with any regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners as to the place in which meetings are to be held, and those regulations may provide for the use for such meetings, with or without payment, of any offices or other buildings under the control of a Government department (including offices or buildings occupied by or in connexion with a labour exchange) or belonging to or under the management of a local authority, but subject to the consent of the Government department or the local authority concerned.

(3) Where under any Act regulating the constitution of an approved society the rules of the society are required to be registered, any rules approved under this section by the Insurance Commissioners shall forthwith be registered, but until so registered shall have effect as if they had been duly registered.

28.—(1) No branch of an approved society having insured persons among its members shall be entitled to secede or withdraw from the society without the consent of the Insurance Commissioners ; but such consent shall not be given unless the seceding or withdrawing branch complies with the conditions of approval requisite in the case of approved societies, and, on any such consent being given, the branch shall be subject in all respects to the provisions and requirements of this Part of this Act relating to approved societies:

Provided that such consent shall not be required if the branch makes provision to the satisfaction of the Insurance Commissioners for the transfer to other approved societies or to other branches of the society from which it is seceding or withdrawing of such of its members as are insured persons.

(2) An approved society or a branch thereof shall not be dissolved without the sanction of the Insurance Commissioners and any such dissolution, so far as it affects members who are insured persons, shall be carried out in the prescribed manner.

(3) No branch of an approved society shall be expelled from the society, unless proper provision is made to the satisfaction of the Insurance Commissioners with respect to any members of the branch who are insured persons.

(4) This section shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in any Act regulating the constitution of the society.

Where an approved society or a branch of any approved society fails to comply with any of the provisions or requirements of this Part of this Act relating to approved societies, or where such a society or branch or the body of which the society forms a separate section is convicted of any offence under any Act regulating its constitution or under any other Act, the Insurance Commissioners may withdraw their approval, and thereupon the society shall cease to be an approved society and the Insurance Commissioners shall make such provision as they may consider necessary with respect to members of the society who are insured persons.

Membership of Approved Societies and Transfer of Members.

30.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, any insured person and any person entitled to become an insured person may apply to an approved society for membership therein.

(2) An approved society shall be entitled, in accordance with its rules, to admit or reject any such applicant, or to expel any of its members being insured persons: Provided that no such application shall be refused solely on the ground of the age of the applicant.

(3) This section shall come into operation on the passing of this Act.

31.—-(1) If an insured person, being a member of an approved society, ceases to be a member of that society, whether voluntarily or by expulsion, and becomes a member of another approved society, there shall be transferred to such other society in respect of such person a sum representing the liability under this Part of this Act of the first-mentioned society in respect of him (in this Act called “transfer value”) calculated in accordance with tables to be prepared by the Insurance Commissioners :

Provided that such transfer value shall not be so transferred in any case where the first-mentioned society proves that the insured person voluntarily ceased to be a member of that society without the consent of the society, and that that consent was not unreasonably withheld.

(2) This section shall apply to transfers from one branch of an approved society to another branch of the same or any society in like manner as it applies to transfers from one society to another society.

32.—(1) If an insured person ceases to be permanently resident in the United Kingdom and becomes a member of any society or institution established in a British possession or foreign country, of a kind similar to an approved society, which is approved by the Insurance Commissioners, or of any branch established outside the United Kingdom of an approved society, the transfer value of such person, or, in the case of a deposit contributor, the amount standing to his credit in the Post Office fund, shall be paid to such society or institution or branch ; but no such payment shall be made, unless the Insurance Commissioners are satisfied that the society, institution, or branch in question gives corresponding rights to any of its members becoming resident in the United Kingdom.

(2) Where an arrangement has been made with the Government of any British possession or with the Government of any foreign State, whereby insured persons may be transferred to a society or institution established in the British possession or foreign State similar to an approved society or the Post Office fund, and members of any such society or institution may be transferred to approved societies or to the Post Office fund, it shall be lawful for the Insurance Commissioners to make such arrangements as may be necessary for any such transfer as aforesaid, and for the determination of the amount to be transferred in any such case, and of the rights to which any person transferred is to be entitled ; so, however, that nothing in this section shall affect the rights of a society under this Part of this Act to refuse applications for membership.

If a person who has for not less than five years been a member of an approved society for the purposes of this Part of this Act has ceased permanently to reside in the United Kingdom, and does not join such a society, branch, or institution as is in the last foregoing section mentioned, and 4he approved society is willing to permit him to remain a member of the society and to become entitled to benefits independently of this Act, the society may, subject to regulations by the Insurance Commissioners, transfer from the account of the society under this Part of this Act to the credit of the society independently of this Act such sum as would have been transferred to the Post Office fund had the member ceased to be a member of the society and become a deposit contributor, and so much of any reserve value which may have been credited to the society in respect of him as would in such a case have been cancelled shall be cancelled.

34.A person shall not be or attempt to become a member for the purposes of this Part of this Act of more than one approved society at the same time, or, being a deposit contributor, to become at the same time a member for the purposes of this Part of this Act of an approved society, but nothing in this Act shall prevent any person who is a member of an approved society under this Part of this Act becoming a member of the same or any other society independently of this Act, or prevent a deposit contributor becoming a member of any society independently of this Act, or affect the right of an approved society to reject or expel from membership any person not being an insured person, or the rights or liabilities of an approved society or of any member thereof arising otherwise than under this Part of this Act; and, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, all rules made by a society which becomes an approved society or any branch thereof shall remain and be of the same force and effect as though this Act had not been passed.

Accounts : Valuations: Surplus and Deficit

35.—(1) Every approved society and every branch of an approved society must—

(a) Keep its books and accounts under this Part of this Act separate from all other books and accounts of the society or branch, and in such form as may be prescribed by the Insurance Commissioners, and, when required, submit them to audit by auditors to be appointed by the Treasury;

(b) Submit to have its assets and liabilities under this Part of this Act valued in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act;

(c) In the event of a surplus or deficiency being shown upon any such valuation, comply with the provisions relating to surpluses and deficiencies herein-after contained;

(d) Render such returns as the Insurance Commissioners may require.

(2) Regulations made under this section shall provide for a separate account being kept showing the amount expended on administration, and for limiting the amount which may be carried to that account out of the contributions under this Part of this Act, and for requiring any deficiency in such account (if not otherwise defrayed) to be met forthwith by a special levy.

(3) The provisions of this Part of this Act relating to accounts audit valuation and returns shall, as respects the transactions of any approved society or branch thereof under this Part of this Act, be substituted for such of the provisions of any Act regulating the constitution of the society or branch as deal with the like matters.

(4) In the case of a society or branch transacting other business besides that of insurance business under this Part of this Act, all funds and credits of the society or branch under this Part of this Act shall be as absolutely the security of the members for the purposes of this Part of this Act as if they belonged to a society or branch carrying on no other business contracts of the society or branch for which they would not have been liable had the business of the society or branch been only that of such insurance, and shall not be applied directly or indirectly for any purposes other than those of insurance business under this Part of this Act.

Where a separate section of a society has been established and such separate section is an approved society under this Part of this Act, the expression “society” in this subsection means the society of which the separate section has been established and not the separate section.

36.— (1) A valuation of the assets and liabilities arising under this Part of this Act of every approved society and of every branch, of an approved society snail be made by a valuer, to be appointed by or with the approval of the Treasury, at the expiration of every three years dating from the commencement of this Act, or at such other times as the Insurance Commissioners appoint; the times so appointed may be at shorter or longer intervals than three years and at regular or irregular intervals, and may apply to all approved societies or any particular society or societies.

(2) Every such valuation shall be made on such basis as may be prescribed.

37—(1) If upon any such valuation a surplus (certified by the valuer to be disposable) is found, the following provisions shall apply:—

(a) If the society is not a society with branches, the society may submit to the Insurance Commissioners a scheme for distributing out of such surplus any one or more additional benefits among insured persons who are members thereof for the purposes of this Part of this Act and, upon any such scheme being sanctioned by the Insurance Commissioners, the society may distribute such additional benefit or benefits in accordance with the provisions thereof:

(6) If the society is a society with branches, any surplus in the central fund of the society, including any surplus transferred from the branches to the society under the provisions of this section, shall, subject to the provisions of the next succeeding section of this Act, be applied in the first instance towards making good any deficiency shown by any of its branches; and the society may distribute the balance of the surplus, after making good deficiencies as aforesaid, amongst such of its branches as have a surplus in proportion to the amounts of such surpluses, and the sum so apportioned to a branch shall be treated as an addition to the disposable surplus of that branch :

(c)If, on the valuation of a branch of an approved society, a surplus is shown in respect of such branch, there shall be transferred to the central body or other central authority of the society of which it is a branch one-third of the surplus and the branch may, with — the approval of the society, submit to the Insurance Commissioners a scheme for distributing out of the remaining two-thirds of such surplus, together with any such addition as aforesaid, any one or more additional benefits, and, upon any such scheme being sanctioned by the Insurance Commissioners, the branch may distribute such additional benefit or benefits in accordance with the provisions thereof:

(d) If, at any time after a scheme submitted by a society or branch has been so sanctioned as aforesaid, there is found to be a deficiency in the funds of the society or branch, no additional benefits shall be distributed under the scheme until such deficiency is extinguished and a surplus shown.

(2) A scheme made under this section may prescribe the conditions to be complied with as respects any additional benefit conferred by the scheme, and every such scheme shall, so far as practicable, provide for the reduction, suspension, or deprivation of the additional benefits conferred by the scheme in the case of members who are in arrears, and may make a corresponding reduction in the amount to which such members are to be deemed to be in arrears for the purpose of reckoning the rate of sickness benefit.

(3) No surplus and no part of any surplus shall be applied for the purpose of paying any benefits payable on death or any benefits other than one or more of the additional benefits specified in Part II. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act.

38.—(1) If upon any such valuation a deficiency is found, Deficit, the following provisions shall apply:

(a) If the deficiency is shown by a branch of an approved society, three-quarters, or, if the society thinks fit, the whole thereof, shall, in the first place, so far as possible, be made good out of any surplus available for that purpose in the hands of the central body or other central authority of the society :

Provided that the society may, if it is satisfied that the deficiency is due to any maladministration on the part of the branch in question, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, refuse to make good any part of the deficiency out of such, surplus :

(b) Subject as aforesaid, every deficiency shall be made good in accordance with a scheme for that purpose to be prepared by the society, or, in the case of a deficiency in a branch, by the branch subject to the approval of the society, and submitted to the Insurance Commissioners for their sanction; such a scheme shall provide for making good the deficiency, within a period of three years from the date at which the valuation was made, in any one or more of the following ways :—

(i) By a compulsory levy, by way of increase of the weekly rate of contributions, upon members of the society or branch being insured persons ;

(ii) By reducing the rate of sickness benefit either for the whole period during which sickness benefit is payable or for any part thereof;

(iii) By deferring the day as from which sickness benefit becomes payable;

(iv) By reducing the period during which sickness benefit is payable;

(v) By increasing the period which is required by this Part of this Act to elapse between two periods of disease or disablement to prevent the one being treated as a continuation of the other ;

(vi) By any other method approved by the Insurance Commissioners, and, on the sanction of the Insurance Commissioners being given to the scheme, the society or branch shall proceed to make good the deficiency in accordance therewith:

(c) Payment of the amount of any compulsory levy made in accordance with a scheme sanctioned under this section may be enforced in such manner as may be provided by the rules of the society or branch ; and, where those rules so provide, it shall be lawful for the society or branch in the case of any member to enforce payment of the amount of the levy by giving notice in the prescribed manner to the employer of such member requiring him to pay the amount of the levy, and, upon such notice being given, such amount shall be payable as if it were part of the contribution to be paid by the employer on behalf of the member, and all the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the payment of such contributions and the recovery thereof from members shall apply accordingly:

(d) If a member chargeable with a levy falls into arrears, his arrears shall reckon as though the total sum thereof, inclusive of the levy, consisted of the contributions payable by or in respect of him had no levy been made :

(e) If within six months after the declaration of a deficiency, or, where an enquiry as to excessive sickness is pending under this Part of this Act, such longer period as the Insurance Commissioners determine, such scheme as aforesaid has not been submitted to and sanctioned by the Insurance Commissioners, or if at any time thereafter it appears to the Insurance Commissioners that the society or branch to which the scheme relates is not enforcing the provisions of the scheme, the Insurance Commissioners may take over the administration of the affairs of the society or branch under this Part of this Act, and shall, as soon as possible thereafter, take such steps as they may think necessary to make good the deficiency by any or all of the methods mentioned in paragraph (b) of this section, and for that purpose they shall be entitled to exercise all or any of the powers given to the society or branch by this Part of this Act:

(f) The Insurance Commissioners after taking over the administration of the affairs of any society or branch shall within a reasonable time, not exceeding three years, make arrangements for the restoration to the society or branch of its powers of self-government or, failing that, for the transfer of the members of the society or branch, being insured persons, to other approved societies or branches or to the Post Office fund:

(g) Any question or dispute arising between the Insurance Commissioners and the society or branch in respect of the amount of the deficiency, or as to the adequacy of any scheme proposed for making it good, shall be submitted to an independent valuer to be appointed by the Lord Chief Justice, and such valuer shall, subject to the provisions of this Act and of the regulations thereunder, act, so far as practicable, on his own knowledge and experience, and shall have power to determine how and by what parties the costs of proceedings, including his own remuneration, not exceeding such amount as the Treasury may prescribe, are to be defrayed, and his decision shall be final and conclusive:

(h) A scheme made under this section shall not affect any person who becomes a member of the society or branch after the date as at which the valuation was made, or any member over seventy years of age:

(i)Any insured person who, having been a member of the society or branch at the date as at which the valuation disclosing the deficiency was made, is transferred to another society or to another branch of the same or any other society before the deficiency is made good, shall be liable to any levy or reduction of benefits which has been or may be made in respect of such deficiency in like manner in all respects as if he had not ceased to be a member, and if the transfer took place before the scheme imposing the levy or reduction of benefits was sanctioned, such adjustment in the amount of any transfer value paid in respect of him shall be made

(2) Any member liable to a levy payable at intervals may relieve himself of the liability thereto, and a member subject to a diminution of benefits by virtue of any such scheme may, with the consent of the society or branch, acquire a right to undiminished benefits, on payment to the Insurance Commissioners of the capitalised value of the levy or diminution of benefits, as the case may be, ascertained in the prescribed manner.

39.— (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, all approved societies which at the date of any valuation have less than five thousand insured persons as members for the purposes of this Part of this Act shall, for the purposes of the valuation —

(a) if they have joined an association formed under this section, be associated with the other societies in the same association ; and

(b) if they have not joined any such association, be grouped together according to the localities in which they carry on business.

(2) Any such societies may, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, form for the purposes of this section an association with a central financial committee, provided that the aggregate number of insured persons who are members of the associated societies is not less than five thousand, and the conditions on which a society shall be entitled or allowed to join, or having joined to secede from, an association, shall be such as may be prescribed.

(3) Any such .society which has not joined any such association as aforesaid, and which carries on business in any county or county borough, shall, for the purposes of this section, be grouped with the other unassociated societies carrying on business in the same county or county borough.

(4) The provisions of this Part of this Act as to the application of surpluses of branches of societies with branches shall apply to such associated and grouped societies as if all the societies in any association or group were branches of a single society, subject to the following modifications: —

(a) A reference to the central financial committee in the case of an association, and to the Insurance Committee for the county or county borough in the case of a group, shall be substituted for the reference to the central authority of the society ;

(b) The approval of the central financial committee or Insurance Committee shall not be required to any scheme prepared by an associated or grouped society for the distribution of any surplus.

(5) Where an associated or grouped society is a society with branches, the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to surpluses and deficiencies of societies with branches (except those requiring the approval of a society to a scheme prepared by a branch as to the distribution of a surplus or the making good of a deficiency) shall not apply to the society, but each branch shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a separate society.

(6) For the purposes of this section, a society shall be deemed to carry on business only in the county or county borough in which its registered office or other principal place of business is situate:

Provided that, where of the insured persons who are members of a grouped society at the date of any valuation more than one hundred or more than one-sixth reside in some county or county borough other than that in which the registered office or other principal place of business is situate, the proper proportion of any surplus or deficiency of the society shall, if application for the purpose is made by any of the Insurance Committees concerned, be apportioned to the Insurance Committee of that other county or county borough, such proportion to be determined, in default of agreement between the Insurance Committees concerned, by the Insurance Commissioners.

(7) The Insurance Commissioners may exempt from this section any society consisting of persons entitled to rights in a superannuation or other provident fund established for the benefit of persons employed by one or more employers, if the employer, in addition to the contributions payable by him under this Part of this Act, is responsible for the solvency of the fund, or for the benefits payable thereout, or is liable to pay a substantial part of, or to make substantial contributions to, or substantially to supplement the benefits payable out of the fund, and this section shall not apply to any society to which such an exemption has been granted.

(8) Except so far as relates to the power of refusing to make good any part of a deficiency due to maladministration on the part of any society, nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring on any central financial committee or Insurance Committee any powers of control over the administration of associated or grouped societies.

40.—(1) Where a society with branches is so organised that the branches in different geographical areas are grouped together for the purposes of this section, the branches in any societies with such area may, if and to such extent as the rules of the society branches, so provide, and if the number of members of the branches being insured persons in the area exceeds five thousand, be treated for the purposes of the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to valuations, surpluses, and deficiencies as if they formed a separate society.

(2) The rules of any society with branches may provide for the branches reinsuring with the society their liabilities in respect of any of the benefits under this Part of this Act, or, if the society is so organised as aforesaid, for such reinsurance either with the society or with the group.

(3) Where a society with branches has among its members insured persons who are not members of any branch, and the benefits of such members are administered by the society itself, such members shall be treated for the purposes of this Part of this Act relating to valuations, surpluses, and deficiencies as if they formed a separate branch.

Where an approved society, not being a society with branches, has amongst its members both men and women, and the rules of the society so provide, the provisions ofthis Part of this Act with respect to valuations, surpluses, and deficiencies shall apply to the society as if it were a society consisting of two branches, the one comprising the male members and the other comprising the female members.

Deposit Insurance.

Until the first day of January nineteen hundred and fifteen, the following provisions shall apply in the case of insured persons (in this Act referred to as deposit contributors) who have not joined an approved society within the prescribed time, or who, having been members of an approved society, have been expelled or have resigned therefrom and have not, within the prescribed time, joined another approved society :—

(a) Contributions by or in respect of a deposit contributor shall be credited to a special fund to be called the Post Office fund:

(b) The sums required for the payment of any sickness, disablement, or maternity benefit payable to a deposit contributor, except so far as they are payable out of moneys provided by Parliament, shall be paid out of the moneys standing to his credit in the Post Office fund, and his right to benefits under this Part of this Act shall be suspended on the sums standing to his credit in that fund being exhausted, except that his right to medical benefit and sanatorium benefit shall continue until the expiration of the then current year, and that the Insurance Committee, if it has funds available for the purpose and thinks fit so to do, may allow him to continue to receive medical benefit or sanatorium benefit or both such benefits after the expiration of such year :

(c) Such sum as may be prescribed shall in each year be payable in respect of each deposit contributor towards the expenses incurred by the Insurance Committee in the administration of benefits:

(d) Such sum as the Insurance Committee may, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, determine shall in each year be payable in respect of each deposit contrrtmtor for the purposes of the cost of medical benefit:

(e) The sums payable in respect of a deposit contributor for the purposes of medical benefit and sanatorium benefit, and towards the expenses of administration, shall, except so far as they are payable out of moneys provided by Parliament, be deducted at the commencement of each year from the amount standing to his credit in the Post Office fund, and, if at the commencement of any year the amount so standing to his credit is insufficient to provide such sums, he shall not, unless the Insurance Committee consents, and except subject to such conditions as that committee may impose, be entitled to any benefits during that year:

(f) Upon the death of a deposit contributor, four-sevenths (or in the case of a woman one-half) of the amount standing to his credit in the Post Office fund shall be paid to his nominee or, in default of a nomination, to the person entitled to receive the sum as if it were money payable on the death of a member of a registered friendly society, and the balance thereof shall be forfeited, and sections fifty-six to sixty-one of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, as amended by any subsequent enactment, shall, subject to the prescribed adaptations, apply accordingly :

(g) Where a deposit contributor proves to the satisfaction of the Insurance Committee that he has permanently ceased to reside in the United Kingdom, four-sevenths (or in the case of a woman one-half) of the amount standing to his credit in the Post Office fund may be paid to him.

43.—(1) If an insured person, being a member of an approved society, ceases to be a member of that society, whether voluntarily or by expulsion, and fails to become within the prescribed time a member of another approved society, then—

(a) if he becomes a deposit contributor, his transfer value shall be carried to his credit in the Post Office fund : Provided that, if a reserve value has been credited to the society in respect of him, such part of that reserve value as is still outstanding (or if the amount so outstanding exceeds the transfer value such part of the reserve value as is equal to the transfer value) shall be cancelled, and the amount, if any, by which the transfer value exceeds the amount so cancelled shall be carried to the credit of the deposit contributor;

(b) if he does not become a deposit contributor, his transfer value shall be carried to such account and dealt with in such manner as may be prescribed.

(2) If an insured person who is a deposit contributor subsequently becomes a member of an approved society for the purposes of this Part of this Act, there shall be transferred to the society the amount standing to his credit in the Post Office fund:

Provided that—

(a) if that amount exceeds the value of the contributions paid by or in respect of him estimated on the assumption that he had been a member of an approved society since his entry into insurance, the excess shall not be transferred to the society but shall be carried to the credit of the Post Office fund;

(b) if that amount is less than such value, the insured person shall be treated as being in arrear to the amount of the deficiency.

Provisions as to Special Classes of Insured Persons.

44.—(1) Where a woman who has before marriage been an insured person marries, she shall be suspended from receiving the ordinary benefits under this Part of this Act until the death of her husband, and, if she is a member of an approved society, one-third of her transfer value shall be carried to a separate account called the married women’s suspense account, but, if at any time after the death of her husband she becomes an employed contributor, the period between her marriage and the expiration of one month from the death of her husband shall be disregarded for the purpose of reckoning arrears, and there shall be transferred from the married women’s suspense account to the society of which she is a member the proper reserve value calculated according to tables to be prepared by the Insurance Commissioners:

Provided that, where a woman who has been employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act before marriage, proves that she continues to be so employed after marriage, she shall not be so suspended so long as she continues to be so employed, and that, where a married woman so suspended from the ordinary benefits becomes employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act before the death of her husband, contributions shall thereupon again become payable in respect of her, and she shall cease to be suspended from receiving the ordinary benefits, but, subject to regulations made by -the Insurance Commissioners, she shall, for the purposes of those benefits, be treated as if she had not previously been an insured person.

(2) Where a married woman being a member of an approved society is so suspended from the ordinary benefits as aforesaid, she may, if she so elects within one month after such suspension, or, subject to the consent of the society, after the expiration of that month, and notwithstanding that she is not engaged in any regular occupation, become whilst so suspended a voluntary contributor, subject to the following modifications, but not otherwise:—

(a) The rate of contributions payable by her shall be threepence a week ;

(b) The benefits to which she shall be entitled shall be— (i) medical benefit; and

(ii) sickness benefit and disablement benefit at the rates and subject to the conditions specified in Table D. of Part I. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act ;

(c) No part of her contributions shall be retained by the Insurance Commissioners for the purpose of discharging their liabilities to approved societies in respect of the reserve values created under this Act: Provided that, where a married woman elects not to become such a voluntary contributor, she shall be entitled to have a sum equal to the remaining two-thirds of her transfer value applied in accordance with regulations of the Insurance Commissioners towards the payment of any of the benefits specified in Part III. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act until the same is exhausted, except that, where a reserve value was credited to the society in respect of such woman at the date of her entrance into insurance, so much of such sum as aforesaid as may be prescribed shall not be so applied but shall be written off the amount of the reserve values credited to the society.

(3) Where the husband of a married woman who has been so suspended from ordinary benefits as aforesaid and who is a member of an approved society dies, she may, if she is qualified to become a voluntary contributor, and elects to do so within one month after the death of her husband, become an ordinary voluntary contributor paying contributions at the rate which would have been applicable to the case had she become such a contributor at the date of her entry into insurance: Provided that she may, whether or not so qualified, if she so elects within one month after the death of her husband, continue to be or become a voluntary contributor on the same terms and subject to the same conditions as above provided as respects married women.

In either such case there shall be transferred from the married women’s suspense account to the society the proper reserve value calculated as aforesaid.

(4) Where a married woman who was at the date of her marriage a deposit contributor is by virtue of this section suspended from the ordinary benefits under this Part of this Act, two-thirds of the sum standing to her credit in the Post Office fund shall be applied in accordance with the regulations of the Insurance Commissioners towards the payment of any of the benefits specified in Part III. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act until the same is exhausted.

(5) Where a woman who was a married woman at the commencement of this Act at any time subsequently either before or within one year after the death of her husband becomes an employed contributor and a member of an approved society, she shall be entitled to full benefits, notwithstanding that at the time of so becoming she is of the age of seventeen or upwards.

(6) Where any arrears of contributions have accrued due in respect of a married woman during coverture such arrears shall, on the death of her husband, be disregarded and she shall be thenceforth entitled to benefits as if such arrears had never accrued due.

(7) Except as provided by this section, a married woman shall not be entitled to become a voluntary contributor, and, if a woman is before marriage a voluntary contributor, she shall on marriage not be entitled to continue to be such a contributor.

(8) If a woman, whilst a voluntary contributor at such reduced rates of benefit as are provided by this section, becomes employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, she shall be entitled to a certificate (to be granted in manner herein-before provided) exempting her from liability to become an employed contributor so, however, that such exemption shall not exempt the employer from his liability to pay contributions in respect of her, or deprive him of his right to recover such part of those contributions as is payable on her behalf, but of each weekly contribution so paid by the employer threepence shall be treated as her contribution as a voluntary contributor and the balance shall be applied for her benefit in such manner as the society may determine.

(9) If at any time the married women’s suspense account is insufficient to meet the liabilities imposed on it by this section, the deficiency shall be made good out of the sums retained by the Insurance Commissioners for discharging their liabilities in respect of the reserve values created by this Act.

(10) Transfer value for the purposes of this section shall be calculated in such manner as the Insurance Commissioners may prescribe.

(11) Where a woman is a member of an approved society at the time when she is entitled to exercise an option under this section, it shall be the duty of the society to give her full information as to the nature of her rights.

(12) Where a deficiency has been found in respect of the society or branch of which a woman is a member at a valuation previous to the time when she became suspended from ordinary benefits under this Part of this Act, and that deficiency has not been made good at the time of her marriage, or where a woman is in arrears at that time, such adjustments in the sums transferred to the married women’s suspense account, and in the balance of her transfer value, and in the rates of benefit to which she is entitled under this section, shall be made as the Insurance Commissioners may prescribe.

(13) Save as aforesaid, the provisions of this Part of this Act shall apply to a woman who has been married, both during and after coverture, in like manner as if she had never been married.

(14) This section shall apply in the case of a woman whose marriage has been dissolved or annulled, or who has, for a period of not less than two years, been actually separated from or deserted by her husband, as if her husband had died at the date at which such dissolution or annulment took effect, or, as the case may require, at the expiration of such period of two years.

45.—(1) This Part of this Act shall apply to persons of the age of seventeen or upwards at the date of entry into insurance who are not British subjects, subject to the following modifications:—

(a) No such person shall be qualified to become a member of an approved society for the purposes of this Part of this Act, except upon the terms and subject to the conditions herein-after mentioned;

(b) No part of the benefits to which such persons may become entitled shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament;

(c) The rate of sickness, disablement, and maternity benefit shall, as respects a deposit contributor, be reduced, in the case of men, to seven-ninths, or in the case of women to three-quarters, of the rate to which they would otherwise be entitled under this Part of this Act;

(d) No part of the sums payable in respect of such persons for medical benefit and sanatorium benefit or towards the expenses of administration of benefits shall, in the case of such persons, be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(2) Where such a person becomes a member of an approved society the following provisions shall have effect: —

(i)The contributions payable by or in respect of such person shall be credited to the society ;

(ii) The society shall in each year pay to the Insurance Committee the whole of the sums payable in respect of such person for medical benefit and sanatorium benefit;

(iii) The rate and conditions of sickness benefit, and disablement benefit, and maternity benefit shall be such as may be determined by the society;

(iv)Such person shall not be deemed to have joined an approved society for the purposes of the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to reserve values, and no part of the contributions of such person shall be retained by the Insurance Commissioners towards the discharge of their liabilities in respect of reserve values.

(3) A woman who, having been a British subject before marriage, has ceased to be a British subject by reason of marriage with a person not being a British subject, shall not be subject to the provisions of this section if her husband is dead, or the marriage has been dissolved or annulled, or she has for a period of not less than two years been actually separated from or deserted by her husband.

(4) This section shall not apply to any person who, on the fourth day of May nineteen hundred and eleven, was a member of a society which, or a separate section of which, becomes an approved society, and had then been resident in the United Kingdom for five years or upwards, or to any person who is transferred to an approved society or the Post Office fund in pursuance of an arrangement with the Government of any foreign State.

46.—(1) For the purpose of providing seamen, marines, and soldiers with such benefits during their term of service and after their return to civil life as are herein-after in this section mentioned, there shall be deducted from the pay of every seaman and marine within the meaning of the Naval and Marine Pay and Pensions Act, 1865, and of every soldier of the regular forces (other than soldiers of His Majesty’s Indian Forces, the Royal Malta Artillery, and native soldiers of any regiment raised outside the United Kingdom), the sum of one penny halfpenny a week, and there shall be contributed by the Admiralty and the Army Council respectively, out of moneys provided by Parliament for navy and army services, in respect of every such seaman, marine, and soldier who has joined an approved society in the manner hereafter mentioned, the sum of one penny halfpenny per week, and, in respect of every other such seaman, marine, and soldier, such sum per week as may be prescribed:

Provided that no such deduction shall be made from the pay of a seaman, marine, or soldier who has completed the period of his first engagement and has re-engaged for pension unless he so elects within the prescribed time, and that no contribution shall be made by the Admiralty or Army Council in respect of any week in respect of which such a deduction is not made.

(2} A seaman, marine, or soldier—

(a) who was at the date of his entry or enlistment an insured person and had joined and was at that date a member of an approved society ; or

(b) who within six months from the date of his entry or enlistment, or, in the case of a seaman, marine, or soldier serving at the commencement of this Act, within six months after the commencement of this Act, or within such longer period as may be prescribed, joins an approved society for the purposes of this Part of this Act;

shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be treated as if he were an employed contributor, subject, until his discharge, to the following modifications :—

(i) The employed rate shall be three pence, and the deductions made from his pay and the contributions made in respect of him by the Admiralty or Army Council shall be treated as the contributions paid in respect of him ;

(ii) He shall not be entitled to medical benefit, sanatorium benefit, sickness benefit, or disablement benefit;

(iii) Maternity benefit shall be payable, notwithstanding that both he and his wife are resident outside the United Kingdom at the date of the confinement, and the society may arrange with the Admiralty or Army Council for the administration of the benefit through the Admiralty or Army Council;

(iv)The sum to be retained out of each weekly contribution by the Insurance Commissioners towards the discharge of their liabilities in respect of reserve values shall be one penny, and the remaining five-ninths of a penny shall be paid out of the Navy and Army Insurance Fund herein-after constituted.

(3) With respect to seamen, marines, and soldiers who have not joined an approved society as aforesaid, the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) The sums so deducted and the contributions so made as aforesaid in respect of such men shall be paid into the National Health Insurance Fund, and out of such sums there shall be retained by the Insurance Commissioners towards discharging their liabilities in respect of the reserve values created under this Part of this Act the like amount as if such men were members of approved societies, and the balance shall be credited to a special fund to be called the Navy and Army Insurance Fund:

(b) There shall also be paid into the Navy and Army Insurance Fund in each year out of moneys provided by Parliament a sum equal to two-ninths of the amount, calculated in the prescribed manner, which would have been payable in that year in respect of medical, sanatorium, sickness, and disablement benefits (including expenses of administration) had all seamen, marines, and soldiers from whose pay deductions are made under this section been members of approved societies and entitled to such benefits as employed contributors:

(c) The weekly contributions to be made by the Admiralty and Army Council in respect of such men shall be such as may from time to time be required to keep the Navy and Army Insurance Fund solvent:

(d) If any such man was at the date of his entry or enlistment a deposit contributor, he shall, for the purpose of dealings with the sum standing to his credit in the Post Office fund, be treated as if the Navy and Army Insurance Fund had been an approved society, and he had at the date of his entry or enlistment become a member of that society :

(e) In the case of a seaman, marine, or soldier serving at the commencement of this Act, there shall be credited to the Navy and Army Insurance Fund such reserve value as would have been credited to an approved society had he at that date become a member of the society as an employed contributor : Provided that no such reserve value shall be credited to that fund if at the date aforesaid he had completed the period of his first engagement and had re-engaged for pension, unless he elects to have deductions made from his pay, or unless, not having so elected, he becomes on discharge entitled to benefits payable out of that fund as herein-after mentioned :

(f) Every such man shall, until discharged, be entitled to maternity benefit payable out of the Navy and Army Insurance Fund, and shall be entitled to such benefit, notwithstanding that both he and his wife are at the date of the confinement resident outside the United Kingdom, and the benefit shall be administered by the Admiralty and Army Council either directly or through Insurance Committees:

(g) On the discharge of a seaman, marine, or soldier, from whose pay deductions have been made and continue to be made up to the date of his discharge, there shall be debited to the Navy and Army Insurance Fund, and, if he becomes a member of an approved society within the prescribed time from his discharge, there shall be credited to that society, or, if he does not become a member of such a society within the prescribed time from his discharge, there shall, unless he becomes entitled to benefits out of the Navy and Army Insurance Fund as herein-after mentioned, be carried to his credit in the Post Office fund the transfer value which would have been payable in respect of him had he been a member of an approved society throughout his period of service, or, in the case of a man serving at the date of the commencement of this Act, since that date, and, if he becomes a deposit contributor, so much of the reserve value, if any, credited to the Navy and Army Insurance Fund in respect of him shall be cancelled as would have been cancelled had he been transferred from an approved society to the Post Office fund:

(h) A man discharged from service as a seaman, marine, or soldier who proves that the state of his health is such that he cannot obtain admission to an approved society may, if he so elects, on making application to the Insurance Commissioners in the prescribed manner within three months of his discharge, or such longer time as may be prescribed, become, subject to regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners after consultation with the Admiralty and Army Council, entitled to benefits (other than additional benefits) provided under this Part of this Act at the full rate, the cost of which benefits shall be payable out of the Navy and Army Insurance Fund, and such benefits shall be administered by Insurance Committees or otherwise in such manner as may be prescribed by such regulations as aforesaid, and any contributions paid under this Part of this Act by or in respect of him shall be paid into that fund:

Provided that—

(i) no deductions from benefits shall be made on account of any pension to which a man may be entitled;

(ii) the rate of sickness benefit shall be reduced, in the case of a man who entered into insurance when of the age of seventeen or upwards or who is in arrears, to the like extent as it would be reduced had he been an employed contributor and a member of an approved society who entered into insurance at the like age or who is in arrears to the like extent, so however that the rate of sickness benefit shall in no case be reduced below five shillings a week ;

(iii) there shall in each year be repaid to the Navy and Army Insurance Fund, out of moneys provided by Parliament, a sum equal to two-ninths of the amount expended out of the fund on such benefits as aforesaid, including the expenses of administration;

(iv) if a man who is so entitled to benefits payable out of the Navy and Army Insurance Fund at any time becomes a member of an approved society for the purposes of this Part of this Act, he shall cease to be entitled to benefits payable out of that fund, and there shall be debited to that fund and credited to such society the transfer value which would have been so debited and credited if he had been at that time transferred from one approved society to another approved society.

(4) In the application of this Part of this Act to a man who is or has been a seaman, marine, or soldier, and to whom this section applies—

(i) the date of his entry or enlistment as a seaman, marine, or soldier, or, if he was serving at the commencement of this Act, the date of that commencement, shall, unless he was an insured person at the date of his entry or enlistment, be treated as the date of his entry into insurance ;

(ii) deductions from pay, with the corresponding contributions made by the Admiralty and Army Council, shall be treated as payments of contributions at the employed rate for the purpose of reckoning the number of contributions made in respect of him, arrears, and transfer value, and for the purpose of qualifications for becoming a voluntary contributor ; a seaman, marine, or soldier during his term of service shall, if he has joined an approved society as aforesaid before his entry or enlistment, be deemed to reside in that part of the United Kingdom in which he resided immediately before his entry or enlistment, or, if after his entry or enlistment, in the part of the United Kingdom in which the registered office or other principal place of business of the society or branch which he has joined is situate, and in any other case in England, and all persons entitled to benefits payable out of the Navy and Army Insurance Fund shall be deemed to reside in England.

(2) Discharge shall, in the case of a seaman, marine, or soldier who on the completion of any term of service is transferred to a reserve, include such transfer.

(3) This section shall not apply to a seaman, marine, or soldier who entered or enlisted before the age of sixteen until he attains that age, and on attaining that age shall apply to him as if he had entered or enlisted at the time when he attained that age.

(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall, subject to such adaptations and modifications as may be prescribed, apply to men belonging to the Naval Reserves when employed on service during war or any emergency, and to men of the Army Reserve when called out on permanent service, and to men of the Territorial Force when called out on embodiment, but, except as aforesaid, shall not apply to any such men.

(5) Where a man of the Naval Reserves, the Army Reserve, or the Territorial Force is being trained and is in receipt of pay out of the moneys provided by Parliament for Navy or Army services, he shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be deemed, whilst so training, to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act and to be in the sole employment of the Crown. Provided that this subsection shall not apply to a man who was not immediately before the training an insured person, except in such cases and under such circumstances as may be specified in a special order made by the Insurance Commissioners.

47.—(1) The Insurance Commissioners shall from time to time make special orders specifying any classes of employment in which a custom or practice is shown to their satisfaction to liable to pay prevail according to which the persons employed receive full wages during remuneration during periods of disease or disablement, or any part thereof, and, where the custom or practice is confined to certain localities, the order shall also specify the localities in which the custom prevails, and, subject to the provisions of this section, the order may contain such incidental, supplemental, and consequential provisions as appear necessary for adapting the other provisions of this Part of this Act to cases under this section.

(2) It shall be lawful for any employer who employs persons in any class of employment specified in any such order, within a locality (if the custom is confined to certain localities) so specified, to give to the Insurance Commissioners the prescribed notice, and thereupon the employer shall, as respects all such persons, be subject to the liabilities, and this Part of this Act shall apply in respect of all such persons, subject to the modifications, herein-after mentioned.

(3) The employer shall be liable to pay full remuneration to every such person during any period or periods not exceeding six weeks in the aggregate in any one year during which such person may be suffering from any disease or disablement commencing while such person is in his employment, notwithstanding that such person may have left his employment before the expiration of that time:

Provided that, if any such person is engaged for a term of not less than six months certain, the employer shall be liable to pay full remuneration during any period of disease or disablement lasting less than six weeks, and. for the first six weeks of any period of disease or disablement lasting more than six weeks, notwithstanding that the aggregate exceeds six weeks, but, where any such period extends beyond the term of the engagement, the employer shall not be liable to make any payment in respect of any part thereof after the expiration of such term.

(4) This Part of this Act shall apply in respect of persons so employed as aforesaid, subject to the following modifications :—

(a) Sickness benefit shall not be payable in respect of any period during which full remuneration is payable by the employer under this section, but, for the purpose of calculating the rate and duration thereof, shall be deemed to have been paid for six weeks before the date as from which it becomes actually payable:

(b) The employed rate shall be reduced by two pence (or, where the employed contributor is a woman, one penny halfpenny) :

(c) The weekly contributions payable by the employer shall be reduced by one penny (or, where the employed contributor is a woman, one halfpenny), and the weekly contributions payable by the employed contributor shall be reduced by one penny :

(d) There shall be credited to the approved society of which any such person is a member, or, if he is a deposit contributor, to his account in the Post Office fund, the difference between the amount of contributions at such reduced rate actually paid in respect of him and the amount which would have been paid if those contributions had been at the full rate, and the amount of that difference shall be treated as having been expended on sickness benefit, and the proper proportion thereof shall accordingly be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament:

(e) Contributions shall not be payable in respect of any period of disease or disablement during which full remuneration is payable under this section if the prescribed notice has been given :

(f) The rules of an approved society or Insurance Committee as to notices and proof of disease and disablement may extend to periods of disease and disablement during which full remuneration is payable under this section.

(6) Where a person on ceasing to be so employed becomes temporarily unemployed, paragraphs (b) and (d) of the last foregoing subsection shall continue to apply in respect of him, and sickness benefit shall not be payable in respect of the first six weeks of any period of disease or disablement commencing after he ceased to be so employed, but, for the purpose of calculating the rate and duration thereof, shall be deemed to have been paid during those six weeks, and notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act a disease or disablement shall not, for the purposes of sickness benefit, be treated as a continuation of a previous disease or disablement unless the medical practitioner attending such person certifies that it in fact is so.

(7) Where such a person as aforesaid ceases to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, and is entitled to become a voluntary contributor paying contributions at the employed rate, paragraphs (b) and (d) of subsection (4) shall, if he becomes a voluntary contributor, continue to apply in respect of him, and sickness benefit shall not be payable in respect of the first six weeks of any period of disease or disablement commencing after he became a voluntary contributor, but, for the purpose of calculating the rate and duration thereof, shall be deemed to have been paid during those six weeks, and, notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act, a disease or disablement shall not, for the purposes of sickness benefit, be treated as a continuation of a previous disease or disablement unless the medical practitioner attending such person-certifies that it in fact is so :

Provided that, if any such person at any time wishes to become an ordinary voluntary contributor, he may become such after the payment of twenty-six weekly contributions at the full rate, or, if the society of which he is a member consents, after the payment of such less number of such contributions as the society may appoint.

(8) Where any employers wish to avail themselves of the provisions of this section as respects the persons employed by them in a class of employment, or in a locality, in which no such custom or practice as aforesaid exists, they may apply to the Insurance Commissioners, and the Commissioners, if, after ascertaining the views of the persons so employed, they think fit, may make a special order extending the provisions of this section as respects the applicants to the class of employment or locality mentioned in the application as if it were a class of employment or locality in which such a custom or practice as aforesaid prevailed.

(9) Any question as to whether an employer is entitled to avail himself of the provisions of this section as respects any persons employed by him shall be determined by the Insurance Committee, subject to appeal to the Insurance Commissioners.

(10) The payment of contributions purporting to be at the reduced rate authorised by this section as respects any persons employed by an employer in any class of employment, shall be conclusive evidence that he is, as respects those persons and all other persons employed by him in the same class of employment in the same locality, under the liability imposed by this section.

An employer who has given such notice as aforesaid may, by giving three months’ previous notice to the Insurance Committee, withdraw his notice as from the commencement of the next calendar year, and in such case, as from that date, this section shall cease to apply in respect of the persons

employed by him in the class of employment to which the notice of withdrawal relates.

(11) None of the provisions of this section shall apply as respects any person employed at a rate of remuneration which is less than ten shillings a week.

(12) Nothing in this section shall relieve any employer from any legal liability to pay wages during sickness to any person employed by him in accordance with any established custom.

In the application of this Part of this Act to masters, seamen, and apprentices to the sea service and the sea fishing service, the following provisions shall have effect:—

(1) Neither sickness benefit nor disablement benefit shall be paid to a master, seaman, or apprentice suffering from any disease or disablement in respect of any period during which the owner of the ship is under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, as amended by any subsequent enactment, or otherwise, liable to defray the expense of the necessary surgical and medical advice and attendance and medicine, and of his maintenance, but, for the purpose of calculating the rate and dtiration of sickness benefit, such benefit shall be deemed to have been paid from the commencement of the disease or disablement until the determination of such liability as aforesaid, and he shall not be entitled to medical benefit during such period :

(2) In the case of masters, seamen, and apprentices serving on foreign-going ships or ships engaged in regular trade on foreign stations, the employed rate and the employer’s contributions shall each be reduced by one penny a week, and every four weekly contributions paid in any calendar year by a master, seaman, or apprentice whilst serving on such a ship shall, for the purposes of determining the number of contributions to be paid by him in that year and for the purposes of calculating arrears, be treated as five such contributions : Provided that—

(a) nothing in this provision shall affect the number of employer’s contributions to be paid in respect of such a master, seaman, or apprentice, but no employer’s contributions paid in respect of any week in respect of which no contribution is payable by the master, seaman, or apprentice shall be taken into account in reckoning the amount of his arrears ;

(b) there shall be credited to the approved society of which the master, seaman, or apprentice is a member, or, if he is a deposit contributor, to his account in the Post Office fund, a sum equal to two-fifths of the amount of the contributions actually paid in respect of him, and an equal sum shall be treated as having been expended on sickness benefit, and the proper proportion thereof shall accordingly be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament:
(3) A master, seaman, or apprentice who is neither domiciled nor has a place of residence in the United Kingdom shall not be deemed to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, but the employer shall be liable to pay the same contributions in respect of him as would otherwise have been payable by him as employer’s contributions, except in cases where the ship is engaged in regular trade on foreign stations :
(4) The Board of Trade shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, cause a society to be formed, to be called the Seamen’s National Insurance Society, of which any masters, seamen, and apprentices to the sea service and the sea fishing service who are employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act shall be entitled to become members, but nothing in this section shall prevent any such person joining another approved society instead of the society so formed:
(5) The affairs of the Seamen’s National Insurance Society shall be managed by a committee constituted in accordance with a scheme to be prepared by the Board of Trade with the approval of the Insurance Commissioners, comprising representatives of the Board of Trade, of shipowners, and of members of the society in equal proportions, and the society shall, notwithstanding anything in this Part of this Act, become an approved society :
(6) All contributions paid by employers in respect of masters, seamen, or apprentices who are neither domiciled nor have a place of residence in the United Kingdom, and consequently deemed not to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, shall be credited to the Seamen’s National Insurance Society :
(7) In addition to medical, sanatorium, sickness, disablement, and maternity benefits, members of the Seamen’s National Insurance Society shall be entitled to such other benefits as may be provided under a a scheme to be prepared by the committee of management, with the approval of the Board of Trade and the Insurance Commissioners, and such other benefits shall include pensions for masters and seamen with long sea service, and the scheme may provide for preference being given to masters and seamen who have served in foreign-going ships or ships engaged in foreign trade over those who have served in the coasting and home trade ships, and such preference may be proportionate to the length of time spent in the first-mentioned service : Provided that—

(a) the scheme shall provide for making a proper proportion of the sums credited to the Seamen’s National Insurance Society under the last foregoing subsection applicable towards the payment of pensions or superannuation allowances granted by other approved societies to members with such sea service that, had they been members of the Seamen’s National Insurance Society, they would have been entitled to pensions under the scheme ; and

(b) in the case of the transfer of a member of the society to another approved society, the transfer value payable in respect of him shall be calculated with reference to the liabilities of the society for benefits other than such pensions as aforesaid:

(8) The rules of the Seamen’s National Insurance Society shall provide for allowing a member who leaves the sea service and is unable to obtain admission to another approved society on account of the state of his health to continue a member of the Seamen’s National Insurance Society for the purposes of this Part of this Act, and the rules of that society may provide that a member of the society who has fulfilled the conditions entitling him to such pension as aforesaid shall not be deprived of his right to the pension by reason only that he has ceased to be a member of the society at the time when the pension first becomes payable or ceases so to be at any subsequent time:

(9) Where a master, seaman, or apprentice is at the commencement of this Act a member of a society which becomes an approved society he may, if that society and the Seamen’s National Insurance Society so agree, continue to be a member of the first-mentioned society for the purposes of benefits under this Part of this Act other than pension, and become a member of the last-mentioned society for the purposes of pension only, and in such case the balance of the contributions payable in respect of him (after deducting the sums to be retained by the Insurance Commissioners towards discharging their liabilities in respect of reserve values) shall be divided between the two societies in such proportion as they may agree :

(10) Expressions in this section have the same meaning as in the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1907, but the expressions “foreign-going ships” and “home trade” ships include ships engaged in the sea fishing service, and the expression “ship engaged in regular trade on foreign stations” means a ship engaged regularly in trade between ports outside the British Islands when trading between such ports, but, for the purposes of this provision, a ship shall not be deemed not to be engaged in such a trade by reason only that she puts into a port in the United Kingdom for the purpose of survey or repair:

(11) The provisions of this Part of this Act affecting the employed rate and the rates of contribution’s of employers and contributors in Ireland, and depriving insured persons in Ireland of medical benefit, shall not apply to any such master, seaman, or apprentice, unless he has a permanent place of residence in Ireland and is not a member of the Seamen’s National Insurance Society; and, in the case of a master, seaman, or apprentice serving on a foreign-going ship or a ship engaged in foreign trade to whom such provisions do apply the amount by which the employed rate and the employer’s contributions are to be reduced shall be one halfpenny a week:

(12) Members of the Seamen’s National Insurance Society shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be deemed to reside in England, and the medical benefit and sanatorium benefit of such members shall be administered by the society instead of by the Insurance Committee, and the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the administration of those benefits shall apply accordingly subject to such modifications as may be prescribed, but nothing in this provision shall prevent the society agreeing with Insurance Committees for the administration of those benefits by the Committees in relation to individual members of the society.

49.—(1) If any person who is of the age of sixty-five or upwards and under the age of seventy at the commencement of this Act is employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act, the like contributions shall, until he attains the age of seventy, be payable by his employer in respect of him as in the case of employed contributors, and the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the payments of contributions and the recovery thereof shall apply accordingly.

(2) For every weekly contribution made by or in respect of such a person, there shall be contributed out of moneys provided by Parliament the sum of two pence.

(3) If such a person becomes a member of an approved society for the purposes of this section all contributions payable in respect of him under this section (including contributions out of moneys provided by Parliament) shall be credited to the society, and he shall become entitled to such benefits as the society may determine, but no reserve value shall be credited to the society in respect of him and no part of the contributions payable in respect of him shall be retained by the Insurance Commissioners towards the discharge of their liabilities in.respect of reserve values.

(4) If such a person does not become a member of an approved society as aforesaid he shall become a deposit contributor, and accordingly all contributions payable in respect of him (including contributions out of moneys provided by Parliament) shall be carried to his credit in the Post Office fund, but the benefits to which he becomes entitled shall be such as may be determined by the Insurance Committee.

(5) No part of the cost of benefits under this section shall be payable out of moneys provided by Parliament.

Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Insurance Commissioners that a trade or business carried on by any employers is of a seasonal nature and subject to periodical fluctuation, and that those employers systematically employ persons throughout the year and work short time during the season when the trade or business is depressed, the Insurance Commissioners may make a special order reducing, as respects such persons, the employed rate and the contributions payable by the employers and contributors to such extent and for such period in the year as may be specified in the order, and increasing such rate and contributions to a corresponding extent and for a corresponding period during the remainder of the year, and the order may contain such incidental, supplemental, and consequential provisions as may appear necessary. for adapting the other provisions of this Part of this Act to cases under this section.
— (l) Where the managers of any institution carried on for charitable or reformatory purposes prove that the persons who are inmates of and supported by the institution receive maintenance and medical attendance when sick, the Insurance Commissioners may grant a certificate of exemption to those managers, and, where such a certificate of exemption is granted, any such inmates who are employed by the managers of the institution shall not, in respect of such employment, be deemed to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act:

Provided that it shall be a condition of such exemption that the managers shall be liable to pay in respect of any such inmate who, having been an inmate of the institution for more than six months, leaves the institution, the following sums:

(a) In the case of a person who was at the time of entering the institution below the age of sixteen, such capital sum as will be sufficient to secure him benefits under this Part of this Act at the full rate;

(b) In the case of a person who was at the time of entering the institution of the age of sixteen or upwards, and who was at that time an insured person and a member of an approved society, a sum equal to the value, calculated in the prescribed manner, of the contributions which, apart from this section, would have been payable in respect of him during the time he was in the institution.

(2) Every such inmate as aforesaid shall, if he was an insured person before entering the institution, be suspended from benefits whilst lie is such an inmate, and, if he was at such time a member of an approved society and has been an inmate of the institution for a period exceeding six months, the time during which he is in the institution shall be disregarded for the purpose of reckoning arrears.

Where a person who has been employed to teach in a public elementary school ceases to be employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act by reason of becoming a teacher to whom the Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1898, applies and does not become a voluntary contributor, there shall be paid to the Board of Education by the approved society of which he is a member or, if he is not a member of an approved society, out of the amount standing to his credit in the Post Office fund, a sum equal to the value calculated in the prescribed manner of the contributions paid by or in respect of him under this Part of this Act since he first began to teach in a public elementary school, or, if the amount standing to his credit is less than that sum, then the whole amount so standing to his credit; and the sum so paid to the Board of Education shall be placed by them to his credit in the Deferred Annuity fund in accordance with the rules for the time being applicable thereto.

53.—(1) This) Part of this Act shall apply to persons employed by or under the Crown, other than those with, respect to whom special provision is made by this Part of this Act, in like manner as if the employer were a private person:

Provided that, in the case of a person employed in the private service of the Crown, the head of the department of the Royal Household in which he is employed shall be deemed to be his employer.

(2) The provisions of this Act relating to reduced insurance in cases where the employer is liable to pay wages during sickness shall extend in respect of persons employed by or under the Crown to cases where two-thirds only of the full remuneration are payable during periods, or parts of periods, of disease or disablement, if such remuneration is so payable for not less than three months in any year, and those provisions shall apply accordingly as if two-thirds of the full remuneration were substituted for the full remuneration and as if three months were substituted for six weeks as the maximum amount of time during any year such remuneration is payable.

Financial Provisions.

54.—(1) All sums received in respect of contributions under this Part of this Act and all sums paid out of moneys provided by Parliament under this Part of this Act respect of the benefits thereunder and the expenses of administration of such benefits shall be paid into a fund, to be called the National Health Insurance Fund, under the control and management of the Insurance Commissioners, and the sums required to meet expenditure properly incurred by approved societies and insurance committees for the purposes of the benefits administered by them and the administration of such benefits shall be paid out of that fund.

(2)The sums payable to the said fund out of moneys provided by Parliament shall be paid in such manner and at such times as the Treasury may determine.

(3) The Insurance Commissioners shall ascertain periodically what sums standing in the National Health Insurance Fund to the credit of the several societies and of the Post Office fund and of the Navy and Army Insurance Fund are available for investment, and the amount so ascertained shall, so far as not required under the provisions of this Part of this Act to be paid over to societies for investment, or to. be retained for investment on their behalf, or for the discharge of liabilities of societies, be carried to a separate account, called the Investment Account, and shall be paid over to the National Debt Commissioners and by them invested in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury in any securities which are for the time being authorised by Parliament as investments for Savings Banks funds, but those Commissioners shall, in making the investment, give preference to stock or bonds issued under the provisions of the Acts relating to borrowing for raising capital for the purposes of the local loans fund where the purposes for which such capital is required is the making of advances for the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1909 :

Provided that nothing in this provision shall prevent the Insurance Commissioners paying over to the National Debt Commissioners for temporary investment, pending the ascertainment of the amount available for investment as aforesaid, any sums in the National Health Insurance Fund not required to meet current liabilities.

(4) There shall be credited to the Post Office fund and to the Navy and Army Insurance Fund interest at the prescribed rate per annum on the sums from time to time standing to the credit of those funds in the Investment Account.

(5) The accounts of the National Health Insurance Fund shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General in such manner as the Treasury may direct.

(6) The National Debt Commissioners shall present to Parliament annually an account of the securities in which moneys forming part of the said fund are for the time being invested.

55-(1) The Insurance Commissioners shall cause tables to be prepared showing, in cases in which such provision is necessary, the capital sums (in this Part of this Act referred to as “reserve values”) which it is necessary to provide in respect of members entering into insurance at ages over the age of sixteen to meet the estimated loss (if any) arising through the acceptance by an approved society of such persons as members upon the terms and conditions as regards contributions and benefits prescribed by this Part of this Act.

(2) On a person of the age of seventeen or upwards joining an approved society for the purposes of this Part of this Act, there shall be credited to the society the reserve value (if any) appropriate to such person in accordance with such tables. The sum so credited to a society in respect of reserve values shall carry interest at the rate of three per centum per annum.

(3) Out of each weekly contribution paid by or in respect of an insured person who is a member of an approved society (other than a voluntary contributor who entered into insurance within six months after the commencement of this Act and at the date of that entry was of the age of forty-five years or upwards) there shall be retained by the Insurance Commissioners the sum of one penny and five-ninths (or in the case of women one penny halfpenny), and the amounts so retained shall, together with any other moneys available for the purpose, be applied in manner provided by this Part of this Act towards discharging the liabilities of the Insurance Commissioners to approved societies in respect of the reserve values created by this section.

(4) The Insurance Commissioners shall periodically apportion amongst the several societies, including the Navy and Army Insurance Fund, the sums retained by them, and the sums, if any, otherwise available for the discharge of such liabilities as aforesaid, in proportion to the amount of reserve values for the time being credited to the several societies, and shall credit to each society the amount so apportioned, and any balance of the sums so credited to a society, after providing for interest on the reserve values for the time being credited to the society, shall be written off the amount of the reserve values so credited.

(5) If any person is convicted of the offence of knowingly making any false statement as to his age in any declaration made for the purpose of obtaining a reserve value to be credited to an approved society in respect of him, the reserve value shall be cancelled, and the member of the society in respect of whom it was credited shall be treated as if he had entered into insurance after the expiration of one year from the commencement of this Act.

56.—(1) The Insurance Commissioners shall, subject to the approval of the Treasury, make regulations with respect to crediting and debiting to the several societies sums received commissioners and paid by the Insurance Commissioners on behalf of and to societies and as to the payments to be made by and to the Commissioners to and by societies, and those regulations shall, amongst other things—

(a) provide for crediting to each society the contributions paid by or in respect of the members of the society after deducting the amounts retained thereout for discharging the liabilities of the Insurance Commissioners in respect of reserve values;

(b) require the Insurance Commissioners, on carrying any sum to the credit of an approved society in the investment account, to pay over to the society for investment, or, at the request of the society, to retain for investment on behalf of the society, four-sevenths, or, so far as the sums are attributable to women, one-half, of the amount so credited to the society;

(c) provide for crediting to each society interest at the prescribed rate per annum on the sums for the time being standing to the credit of the society in the investment account;

(d) provide for the discharge of debit balances in such manner as the Insurance Commissioners determine, either by the reduction of the reserve values credited to the society or out of the proceeds of the realisation of securities held by the society or by the Commissioners on behalf of the society, and out of the sums standing to the credit of the society in the investment account, proportionately : Provided that, in the case of any society which gives notice to that effect to the Insurance Commissioners, no part of the sums carried to the credit of the society in the investment account shall be paid over to the society or retained by the .Commissioners for investment on its behalf, but the whole amount shall remain to the credit of the society in the investment account, and in such case the regulations made under the foregoing provisions shall apply to the society subject to the prescribed modifications.

(2) Every approved society shall invest any sums paid to the society for investment, and shall for the purpose have power to invest in any securities in which trustees are for the time being by law empowered to invest trust funds, or in any stocks, mortgages, or other securities issued by any authority within the meaning of the Local Loans Act, 1875, and charged on any rates levied by or on the order or precept of such authority, or in any other securities for the time being approved by the Insurance Commissioners.

(3) Where, at the request of a society, the Insurance Commissioners instead of paying over any sum to the society retain such sum for investment on behalf of the society, they shall invest such sum in accordance with the directions of the society in any securities in which the society might have invested it had it been paid over to the society, and shall from time to time vary such investments in accordance with the like directions, and shall pay over to the society all sums received by way of interest or dividend on the investments held by them on behalf of the society.

(4) Every approved society shall apply the sums received by way of interest or dividend on investments held by the society or by the Insurance Commissioners on behalf of the society towards the cost of the benefits under-this Part of this Act of the members of the society and the cost of the administration of those benefits, or otherwise, as the Insurance Commissioners may prescribe.

Insurance Commissioners: Advisory Committee.

57.—(1) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act there shall be constituted for the purposes of this Part of this Act Commissioners (to be called the Insurance Commissioners, with a central office in London, and with such branch offices as the Treasury may think fit, and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the Treasury, and of the Commissioners so appointed one at least shall be a duly qualified medical practitioner who has had personal experience of general practice.

(2) The Insurance Commissioners may sue and be sued, and may for all purposes be described by that name, and shall have an official seal which shall be officially and judicially noticed, and such seal shall be authenticated by any Commissioner or the secretary to the Commissioners, or some person authorised by the Commissioners to act on behalf of the secretary.

(3) The Insurance Commissioners may appoint such officers, inspectors, referees, and servants, for the purposes of this Part of this Act as the Commissioners, subject to the approval of the Treasury as to number, may determine, and there shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament to the Commissioners and to such officers, inspectors, referees, and servants, such salaries or remuneration as the Treasury may determine; and any expenses incurred by the Treasury (including the remuneration of valuers and auditors appointed by the Treasury) or the Commissioners in carrying this Part of this Act into effect, to such extent as the Treasury may sanction, shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(4) Every document purporting to be an order or other instrument issued by the Insurance Commissioners and to be sealed with the seal of the Commissioners authenticated in manner provided by this section, or to be signed by the secretary to the Commissioners or any person authorised by the Commissioners to act on behalf of the secretary, shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such order or instrument without further proof, unless the contrary is shown.

(5) The Insurance Commissioners may empower any inspector appointed by them to exercise in respect of any approved society or any branch of an approved society all or any of the powers given by section seventy-six of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, to an inspector appointed thereunder:

Provided that any complaint or report as to any such branch as aforesaid made by an inspector under this subsection shall be communicated to the central body or other central authority of the society.

The Insurance Commissioners shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, appoint an Advisory Committee for the purpose of giving the Insurance Commissioners advice and assistance in connexion with the making and altering of regulations under this Part of this Act, consisting of representatives of associations of employers and approved societies, of duly qualified medical practitioners who have personal experience of general practice, and of such other persons as the Commissioners may appoint, of whom two at least shall be women.

Insurance Committees

59.—(1) An Insurance Committee shall be constituted for every county and county borough.

(2) Every such committee shall consist of such number of members as the Insurance Commissioners, having regard to the circumstances of each case, determine, but in no case less than forty or more than eighty, of whom—

(a) three-fifths shall be appointed in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations of the Insurance Commissioners so as to secure representation of the insured persons resident in the county or county borough who are members of approved societies, and who are deposit contributors, in proportion, as nearly as may be, to their respective numbers ;

(b) one-fifth shall be appointed by the council of the county or county borough ;

(c) two members shall be elected in manner provided by regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners, either by any association of duly qualified medical practitioners resident in the county or county borough which may have been formed for that purpose under such regulations, or, if no such association has been formed, by such practitioners;

(d) one member or, if the total number of the committee is sixty or upwards, two members, or, if the total number of the committee is eighty, three members, shall be duly qualified medical practitioners appointed by the council of the county or county borough;

(e) the remaining members shall be appointed by the Insurance Commissioners:

Provided that—

(i) The regulations with respect to the appointment of members to represent insured persons shall provide for conferring on the approved societies which have members resident in the county or county borough the power of appointing the representatives of such members, and, where an association of the deposit contributors resident in the county or county borough has been formed under such regulations as aforesaid, for conferring on such association the power of appointing the representatives of the deposit contributors:

(ii) Of the members appointed by the council of the county or county borough two at least shall be women, and of the members appointed by the Insurance Commissioners one at least shall be a duly qualified medical practitioner and two at least shall be women.

(3) The Insurance Commissioners may, where any part of the cost of medical benefit or sanatorium benefit is defrayed by the council of the county or county borough, increase the representation of the council and make a corresponding diminution in the representation of the insured persons.

(4)The Insurance Commissioners may make regulations as to the appointment, quorum, term of office, and rotation of members and proceedings generally (including the appointment of sub-committees consisting wholly or partly of members of the committee) of the committee, and the employment of officers and the provision of offices by the committee, including the use by the committee, with or without payment, of any offices of a local authority, but subject to the consent of such authority, and any such regulations may provide for the constitution of district insurance committees, and for apportioning amongst the several district insurance committees any of the powers and duties of the Insurance Committee and regulating the relations of district insurance committees to the Insurance Committee and to one another:

Provided that the regulations so made shall require the Insurance Committee of every county (except in cases where, owing to special circumstances, the Commissioners consider it unnecessary) within six months after the commencement of this Act to prepare after consultation with the county council and submit for approval to the Commissioners a scheme for the appointment of district insurance committees for the county and prescribing the area to be assigned to each such committee, and in particular the scheme shall provide for the appointment of a district insurance committee for each borough (including the City of London and a metropolitan borough) within the county having a population of not less than ten thousand, and for each urban district within the county with a population of not less than twenty thousand, but, if the Insurance Committee or, on appeal, the Insurance Commissioners consider it expedient in the case of any such borough (outside London) or urban district, any adjoining areas may be grouped with such borough or urban district for the purpose of the appointment of a district insurance committee.

(5) Any Insurance Committee may, and shall if so required by the Insurance Commissioners, combine with any one or more other Insurance Committees for all or any of the purposes of this Part of this Act, and, where they so combine, the provisions of this Part of this Act shall apply with such necessary adaptations as may be prescribed.

60.—(1) The Insurance Committee of a county or county borough shall, in addition to the other powers and duties conferred and imposed on it by this Part of this Act, have the following powers and duties:—

(a) It shall make such reports as to the health of insured persons within the county or county borough as the Insurance Commissioners, after consultation with the Local Government Board, may prescribe, and shall furnish to them such statistical and other returns as they may require, and may make to them such other reports on the health of such persons and the conditions affecting the same, and may make such suggestions with regard thereto as it may think fit, and the Insurance Commissioners shall forward to the councils of the counties, boroughs, and urban and rural districts, which appear to them to be affected by or interested in any such reports, returns, or suggestions, copies of such reports, returns, and suggestions, and the reports and returns so made shall include such reports and returns as will enable an analysis and classification to be made of the persons who are deposit contributors :

(b) It shall make such provision for the giving of lectures and the publication of information on questions relating to health as it thinks necessary or desirable, and may, if it thinks fit, for that purpose make arrangements with local education authorities, universities and other institutions:

(c) It shall keep proper books and accounts in the prescribed form and shall, when required, submit such accounts to audit by auditors appointed by the Treasury.

(2) For the purpose of assisting Insurance Committees in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties under this Part of this Act, and with a view to promoting co-operation between such committees and the councils of counties, boroughs, and urban and rural districts, any medical officer of health may, at the request of an Insurance Committee and with the consent of the council by whom he is appointed, attend meetings of the committee and give such advice and assistance as is in his power.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the council of a borough includes the mayor, aldermen, and commons of the City of London in common council assembled, and the council of a metropolitan borough.

61.—(1) All sums available for sanatorium benefit in a income, county or county borough, and all sums payable in respect of the members of approved societies and deposit contributors resident in the county or county borough for the purposes of medical benefit and administrative expenses in any year, shall be paid or credited to the Insurance Committee at the commencement of that year.

(2) There shall also be paid to the Insurance Committee in every year by each approved society having members who are insured persons resident in the county or county borough, in respect of each such member, the sum of one penny towards the administrative expenses of the committee:

Provided that, if the special circumstances of any county are such that the Insurance Commissioners consider that the travelling expenses of the members of the committee should be repaid to them by the committee, the Insurance Commissioners may authorise such repayment, and in such case may increase the said sum of one penny to such sum, not exceeding twopence, as they may determine.

(3) It shall be lawful for any local authority, out of any fund or rate out of which the expenses of the authority are payable, to subscribe such sums as it may think fit towards the general purposes of the Insurance Committee.

Where a local medical committee has been formed for Local medical any county or county borough or for any area for which a committees, district committee has been formed and the Insurance Commissioners are satisfied that such committee is representative of the duly qualified medical practitioners resident in the county or county borough or such area as aforesaid, they shall recognise such committee, and, where a local medical committee has been so recognised, it shall, subject to regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners, be consulted by the Insurance Committee or district committee, as the case may be, on all general questions affecting the administration of medical benefit, including the arrangements made with medical practitioners giving attendance and treatment to insured persons, and shall perform such other duties, and shall exercise such powers, as may be determined by the Insurance Commissioners.

Excessive Sickness.

63.—(1) Where it is alleged by the Insurance Commissioners or by any approved society or Insurance Committee that the sickness which has taken place among any insured persons, being, in the case where the allegation is made by a society or committee, persons for the administration of whose sickness and disablement benefits the society or committee is responsible, is excessive, and that such excess is due to the conditions or nature of employment of such persons, or to bad housing or – insanitary conditions in any locality, or to an insufficient or contaminated water supply, or to the neglect on the part of any person or authority to observe or enforce the provisions of any Act relating to the health of workers in factories, workshops, mines, quarries, or other industries, or relating to public health, or the housing of the working classes, or any regulations made under any such Act, or to observe or enforce any public health precautions, the Commissioners or the society or committee making such allegation may send to the person or authority alleged to be in default a claim for the payment of the amount of any extra expenditure alleged to have been incurred by reason of such cause as aforesaid, and, if the Commissioners, society, or committee and such person or authority fail to arrive at any agreement on the subject, may apply to the Secretary of State or the Local Government Board, as the case may require, for an inquiry, and thereupon the Secretary of State or Local Government Board may appoint a competent person to hold an inquiry.

(2) If, upon such inquiry being held, it is proved to the satisfaction of the person holding the inquiry that the amount of such sickness has —

(i)during a period of not less than three years before the date of the inquiry; or

(ii) if there has been an outbreak of any epidemic, endemic or infectious disease, during any less period; been in excess of the average expectation of sickness by more than ten per cent., and that such excess was in whole or in part due to any such cause as aforesaid, the amount of any extra expenditure found by the person holding the inquiry to have been incurred under this Part of this Act by any societies or committees where the allegation is made by the Insurance Commissioners, of if the allegation is made by a society or committee, by the society or committee in question, by reason of such cause shall be ordered by him to be made good in accordance with the following provisions: —

(a) Where the excess or such part thereof as aforesaid is due to the conditions or nature of the employment or to any neglect on the part of any employer to observe or enforce any such Act or regulation as aforesaid, it shall be made good by the employer :

(b) Where such excess or such part thereof as aforesaid is due to bad housing or insanitary conditions in the locality, or to any neglect on the part of any local authority to observe or enforce any such Act or regulation or such precautions as aforesaid, it shall be made good by such local authority as appears to the person holding the inquiry to have been in default, or, if due to the insanitary condition of any particular premises, shall be made good either by such authority by the owner, lessee, or occupier of the premises who is proved to the satisfaction of the person holding the inquiry to be responsible :

(c) Where the excess or such part thereof as aforesaid is due to an insufficient or contaminated water supply, it shall be made good by the local authority, company, or person by whom the water is supplied, or who having imposed upon them the duty of affording a water supply have refused or neglected to do so, unless the local authority, company, or person prove that such insufficiency or contamination was not due to any default on the part of the authority, company, or person, but arose from circumstances over which they had no control.

(3) Where any such inquiry as aforesaid is held in respect of bad housing or insanitary conditions in any locality, it shall be lawful for the local authority to serve notice upon the owner, lessee, or occupier of any premises which are the subject-matter of the inquiry, and, where it is proved that such a notice has been served and that any such extra expense as aforesaid, or any part thereof, has been caused by the act or default of such owner, lessee or occupier, the person holding the inquiry may order the owner, lessee, or occupier to repay to the local authority the amount of the extra expenditure or part thereof which has been so caused.

(4) For the purpose of this section, the average expectation of sickness shall be calculated in. accordance with the tables prepared by the Insurance Commissioners for the purpose of valuations under this Part of this Act, but any excessive sickness attributable to any disease or disablement which is due to any disease or injury in respect of which damages or compensation are payable under the Employers’ Liability Act, 1880, or the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1906, or at common law, shall not be taken into account.

(5) The Insurance Commissioners shall make regulations as to the procedure on inquiries under this section, and a person, holding an inquiry under this section shall have all such powers as an inspector of the Local Government Board has for the purposes of an inquiry under the Public Health Acts, and shall have power to order how and by what parties costs, including such expenses as the Secretary of State or Local Government Board may certify to have been incurred by them, are to be paid, and an order made by such person under this section may, by leave of the High Court, be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order of the Court to the same effect:

Provided that a society or committee shall not be ordered to pay the costs of the other party to the inquiry if the person holding the inquiry certifies that the demand for an inquiry was reasonable under the circumstances, and, when he so certifies, the Treasury may repay to the society or committee the whole or any part of the costs incurred by it.

(6) Without prejudice to any other method of recovery, any sum ordered under this section to be paid by a local authority may, in accordance with the regulations of the Local Government Board with the approval of the Treasury, be paid out of the Local Taxation Account and deducted from any sums payable either directly or indirectly out of that account to the local authority.

(2)For the purposes of this section, any expenditure on any benefit administered by an Insurance Committee shall be deemed to be expenditure of that Committee, but any sums paid to any such Committee under this section to meet extra expenditure on sickness benefit or disablement benefit shall be dealt with for the benefit of deposit contributors in accordance with regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners.

(3)Where under this section any sum is paid to the Insurance Commissioners, the Insurance Commissioners shall apply the same in discharge of any expenses incurred by the Commissioners under this section and shall distribute the balance amongst the societies and committees which appear to the Commissioners to have incurred extra expense on account of the excessive sickness in such proportions as the Commissioners think just.

(4)Where an association of deposit contributors resident in any county or county borough has been formed under regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners, the Insurance Committee for the county or county borough shall, if so required by the association, take proceedings under this section on behalf and at the expense of the association.

Supplementary Provisions.

64.—(1) If under any other Act of the present session any sum is made available for the purposes of the provision of or making grants in aid to sanatoria and other institutions for the treatment of tuberculosis or such other diseases as the Local Government Board with the approval of the Treasury may appoint, such sum shall be distributed by the Local Government Board with the consent of the Treasury in making grants for those purposes, and the Treasury before giving their consent shall consult with the Insurance Commissioners:

Provided that such sum shall be apportioned between England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in proportion to their respective populations ascertained in accordance with the returns of the census taken in the year nineteen hundred and eleven.

(2) If any such grant is made to a county council, the Local Government Board may authorise the county council to provide any such institution, and, where so authorised, the county council shall have power to erect buildings and to manage and maintain the institution and for that purpose to enter into agreements and make arrangements with the Insurance Committees and other authorities and persons, and to do all such things as may be necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and any expenses of the county council, so far as not defrayed out of the grant, shall be defrayed out of the county fund as expenses for general county purposes, or, if the order of the Local Government Board so directs, as expenses for special county purposes charged on such part of the county as may be provided by the order.

(3) For the purpose of facilitating co-operation amongst county councils, county borough councils, and other local authorities (not being Poor Law authorities) for the provision of such sanatoria and other institutions as aforesaid, the Local Government Board may by order make such provisions as appear to them necessary or expedient, by the constitution of joint committees, joint boards, or otherwise, for the joint exercise by such councils and authorities of their powers in relation thereto, and any such order may provide how, in what proportions, and out of what funds or rates the expenses of providing such institutions, so far as they are not defrayed out of grants under this section, are to be defrayed, and may contain such consequential, incidental, and supplemental provisions as may appear necessary for the purposes of the order, and an order so made shall be binding and conclusive in respect of the matters to which it relates.

(4) An Insurance Committee may, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, enter into agreements with any person or authority (other than a Poor Law authority) that, in consideration of such person or authority providing treatment in a sanatorium or other institution or otherwise for persons recommended by the Committee for sanatorium benefit, the Committee will contribute out of the funds available for sanatorium benefit towards the maintenance of the institution or provision of such treatment, such annual or other payment, and subject to such conditions and for such period as may be agreed, and any such agreement shall be binding on the Committee and their successors, and any sums payable by the Committee thereunder may be paid by the Insurance Commissioners and deducted from the sums payable to the Committee for the purposes of sanatorium benefit.

The Insurance Commissioners may make regulations for any of the purposes for which regulations may be made under this Part of this Act or the schedules therein referred to, and for prescribing anything which under this Part of this Act or any such schedules is to be prescribed, and generally for carrying this Part of this Act into effect, and any regulations so made shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as may be after they are made, and shall have effect as if enacted in this Act:

Provided that, if an address is presented to His Majesty by either House of Parliament within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat next after any such regulation is laid before it, praying that the regulation may be annulled, His Majesty in Council may annul the regulation, and it shall thenceforth be void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

66.—(1) If any question arises—

(a) as to whether any employment or any class of employment is or will be employment within the meaning of this Part of this Act or as to whether a person is entitled to become a voluntary contributor ; or

(b) as to the rate of contributions payable by or in respect of any insured person ; or

(c) as to the rates of contributions payable in respect of an employed contributor by the employer and the contributor respectively;

the question shall be determined by the Insurance Commissioners, in accordance with regulations made by them for the purpose : Provided that—

(i) if any person feels aggrieved by the decision of the Insurance Commissioners on any question arising under paragraph (a), he may appeal therefrom to the county court, with a further right of appeal upon any question of law to such judge of the High Court as may be selected for the purpose by the Lord Chancellor, and the decision of that judge shall be final;

(ii) the regulations of the Insurance Commissioners may provide for questions under paragraph (6) being determined, in the case of any person who is or is about to become a member of an approved society, by the society;

(iii) the Insurance Commissioners may, if they think fit, instead of themselves deciding whether any class of employment is or will be employment within the meaning of this Part of this Act, submit the question for decision to the High Court in such summary manner as subject to rules of court may be directed by the court, and the court, after hearing such parties and taking such evidence (if any) as it thinks just, shall decide the question, and the decision of the court shall be final.

(2} This section shall come into operation on the passing of this Act.

67.—(1) Subject to the provisions of the foregoing section every dispute between—

(a) An approved society or a branch thereof and an insured person who is a member of such society or branch or any person claiming through him;

(b) An approved society or branch thereof, and any person who has ceased to be a member for the purposes of this Part of this Act of such society or branch, or any person claiming through him;

(c)An approved society and any branch thereof;

(d) Any two or more branches of an approved society ;

relating to anything done or omitted by such person, society, or branch (as the case may be) under this Part of this Act or any regulation made thereunder, shall be decided in accordance with the rules of the society, but any party to such dispute may, in such cases and in such manner as may be prescribed, appeal from such decision to the Insurance Commissioners.

(2)Every dispute between an insured person and the Insurance Committee, relating to anything done or omitted by such person or the Insurance Committee under this Part of this Act, or any regulation made hereunder, shall be decided in the prescribed manner by the Insurance Commissioners.

(3) The, Insurance Commissioners may authorise referees appointed by them to decide any appeal or dispute submitted to the Insurance Commissioners under this section.

(4)The Insurance Commissioners may make regulations as to the procedure on any such appeal or dispute, and such regulations may apply any of the provisions of the Arbitration Act, 1889, but, except so far as it may be so applied, the Arbitration Act, 1889, shall not apply to proceedings under this section, and any decision given by the Insurance Commissioners or a referee under this section shall be final and conclusive.

68.—(1) Where the medical practitioner attending on any insured person in receipt of sickness benefit certifies that the levying of any distress or execution upon any goods or chattels belonging to such insured person and being on premises cases. occupied by him, or the taking of any proceedings in ejectment or for the recovery of any rent or to enforce any judgment in ejectment against such person, would endanger his life, and such certificate has been sent to the Insurance Committee and has been recorded in manner hereinafter provided, it shall not be lawful during any period named in the certificate for any person to levy any such distress or execution or to take any such proceedings or to enforce any such judgment against the insured person:

Provided that, if any person desirous of levying such distress or execution or taking such proceedings or enforcing such judgment disputes the accuracy of the certificate, he may apply to the registrar of the county court, who, if he is of opinion that the certificate should be cancelled or modified, may make an order cancelling or modifying it, and no appeal shall lie against any such order or a refusal to make any such order.

(2) A certificate granted for the purpose of this section shall continue in force for one week or such less period as may be named in the certificate, but may be renewed from time to time for any period not exceeding one week, up to but not beyond the expiration of three months from the date of the grant of the original certificate, but no such renewal shall have effect unless sent to the Insurance Committee and recorded as aforesaid:

Provided that the protection conferred by this section shall not extend beyond the expiration of one month from such date if, on demand being made by the person desirous of levying such distress or execution, or taking such proceedings, or enforcing such judgment, proper security is not given for payment of rent thereafter to become due from the insured person or the amount of the judgment debt, as the case may be, and any dispute as to the sufficiency of the security shall be determined by the registrar of the county court whose decision shall be final and not subject to appeal.

(3) If any person knowingly levies or attempts to levy any such distress or execution or takes any such proceedings or enforces or attempts to enforce any such judgment in contravention of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(4) A certificate or renewal thereof granted under this section shall forthwith be sent to the Insurance Committee, and the Committee shall, unless it has reason to suspect its genuineness, record it in a special register without fee, and such register shall, at all reasonable times, be open to inspection; and, where so recorded, its genuineness shall not be questioned in any proceedings against a sheriff or other officer for failure to levy any distress or execute any warrant.

(5) Where the time within which a warrant may be executed is limited, any period during which the warrant cannot be executed by reason of the provisions of this section shall be disregarded in computing the time within which the warrant may be executed.

69.—(1) If, for the purpose of obtaining any benefit or payment or the crediting of a reserve value under this Part of this Act, either for himself or for any other person, any person knowingly makes any false statement or false representation, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months with or without hard labour.

(2) If any employer has failed to pay any contributions which under this Part of this Act he is liable to pay in respect of an employed contributor, or if any such employer, any insured person, or any other person is guilty of any other contravention of or non-compliance with any of the requirements of this Part of this Act or the regulations made thereunder in respect of which no special penalty is provided, he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, and where the offence is failure or neglect on the part of the employer to make any such contributions, to pay to the Insurance Commissioners a sum equal to the amount of the contributions which he has so failed or neglected to pay, which sum when paid shall be treated as a payment in satisfaction of such contributions:

Provided that no person shall be liable to any penalty in respect of any matter if he has acted in conformity with any decision in respect thereto by the Insurance Commissioners, or, if the matter is one which the Insurance Committee is competent to decide, in conformity with its decision.

70.—(1) Where an employer has failed or neglected to pay any contributions which under this Part of this Act he is liable to pay in respect of a person being a member of an approved society in his employment, and by reason thereof that person has been deprived in whole or in part of his right to any benefits which would otherwise have been payable to him, he shall be entitled to take proceedings against the employer for the value of the right of which he has been so deprived, and in any such proceedings the employer may be ordered to pay to the Insurance Commissioners a sum equal to the value so ascertained, which sum when paid shall be carried to the credit of the society of which such person is a member, and thereupon such person shall thenceforth be entitled to receive from the society benefits at the same rate as he would have been entitled to had the contributions been properly paid, together with the difference between the amount of the benefits (if any) he has actually received and the benefits he would have received had the contributions been properly paid.

(2) Proceedings may be taken under either this or the last preceding section notwithstanding that proceedings have also been taken under the other section in respect of the same failure or neglect to pay contributions.

71.If it is found at any time that a person has been in receipt of any payment or benefit under this Part of this Act without being lawfully entitled thereto he, or in the case of his death his personal representatives, shall be liable to repay to the Insurance Commissioners the amount of such payment or benefit, and any such amount may be recovered as a debt due to the Crown and when so recovered shall be carried to the credit of the society of which such person was a member, or if he was not a member of any approved society, of the Post Office fund.

72.—(1) Every registered friendly society which provides benefits similar to any of those conferred by this Part of this Act, shall submit to the Registrar of Friendly Societies a scheme for continuing, abolishing, reducing, or altering such benefits -as respects members who become insured persons and for continuing, abolishing, or reducing the contributions of such members, so, however, that the combined effect of the alteration of the benefits and contributions shall not prejudicially affect the solvency of the society, and, if the scheme or a supplementary scheme shows on an actuarial valuation that, owing to the alterations in the benefits and contributions effected by the scheme, any part of the existing funds of the society is set free as not being required to meet the liabilities of the society, the scheme or the supplementary scheme shall provide for the application of the part of the funds so set free in any one or more of the following ways:—

(a) towards the cost of the provision of other or increased benefits payable by the society independently of this Part of this Act to existing members whether insured persons or not;

(b) in reduction of the contributions payable by such members in respect of the benefits payable by the society independently of this Part of this Act;

(c) towards the payment or repayment of contributions payable under this Part of this Act by such of its existing members as are entitled and elect to receive benefits under this Part of this Act through the society.

(2) This section shall apply to branches of registered societies in like manner as to societies : Provided that a society with branches may, if it so desires (subject always to the exercise of any right of a branch, expressly conferred by the rules of the society, to dispose of any of its funds for the benefit solely of the members of the branch), submit a scheme applicable to all its branches, and it shall be competent for the society to provide by its scheme or supplementary scheme for the application of the whole or any part of any sums so set free towards the discharge of any deficiencies in any of its branches which may be found to exist on such actuarial valuation as aforesaid.

(3) Any scheme adopted by a society or branch of a society in accordance with its rules when confirmed by the Registrar of Friendly Societies shall be deemed to be incorporated in the registered rules of the society or branch and may be amended accordingly, so, however, that no amendment shall be inconsistent with the provisions of this section.

(4) This section shall apply to seamen, marines, and soldiers, from whose pay deductions are made under this Part of this Act as if they were insured persons, and for the purposes of this section “existing” means existing at the passing of this Act.

(5) This section shall come into operation on the passing of this Act.

73—(1) Where at the passing of this Act a superannuation or other provident fund has been established for the benefit of the persons employed by one or more employers, the provisions of the last foregoing section shall apply with the necessary adaptations and with this modification that, where under the Act, deed, or other instrument establishing the fund or otherwise any sum is payable by the employer towards benefits secured by the Act or deed, and those benefits include benefits similar to any of those conferred by this Part of this Act, the scheme may provide for allowing the employer to deduct from any contributions payable by him as aforesaid towards benefits of a nature similar to those under this Part of this Act an amount not exceeding the amount of the employer’s contributions payable by him under this Part of this Act.

(2) Where the fund is one out of which pensions or superannuation allowances are payable, and it is proved to the satisfaction of the Insurance Commissioners that the rearrangements required in consequence of this Part of this Act will, upon a valuation under the existing rules of the fund, affect prejudicially the sum available for the payment of pensions or superannuation allowances, the Insurance Commissioners may grant a certificate authorising the value of the prospective extension of benefits under this Part of this Act when the reserve values have been written off as herein-before provided, to be brought into account in the valuation of the assets available for the discharge of the liabilities of the fund in respect of pensions and superannuation allowances.

Any member of an approved society who is a minor may execute all instruments and give all acquittances necessary to be executed or given under the rules of such society, but shall not be a member of the Committee or a trustee, manager, or treasurer of such society or any branch thereof.
Any society for the purpose of carrying on business under this Act, either alone or together with any purpose mentioned in section eight, subsection (1), of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, may, after the passing of this Act, be registered as a friendly society under the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, notwithstanding that the contributions under this Act are not voluntary.

76.—(1) Except in so far as may be inconsistent with this Part of this Act, any business transacted under this Part of this Act by any approved society shall be treated as part of the ordinary business transacted by societies of the class to which societies and that society belongs, and any enactment applying to the society in relation to the transaction of such ordinary business shall apply accordingly in relation to the business transacted by the society under this Part of this Act.

(2) This section shall apply to an approved society which is a separate section of another body, subject to the necessary adaptation.

77.—(1) The Local Government Board may, for the purposes of their powers and duties under this Part of this Act, hold such local inquiries and investigations as they may think fit, and the Board and their inspectors shall have for the purposes of such an inquiry the same powers as they respectively have for the purposes of an inquiry under the Public Health Acts, and the expenses incurred by the Board in respect of such inquiries and other proceedings under this Part of this Act (including the salary of any inspector or officer of the Board engaged in the inquiry or proceedings, not exceeding three guineas a day) shall be paid by such authorities and persons and out of such funds and rates as the Board may by order direct, and the Board may certify the amount of the expenses so incurred, and any sum so certified and directed by the Board to be paid by the authority or person shall be a debt from that authority or person to the Crown: Provided that this provision shall not apply to inquiries with respect to responsibility for excessive sickness.

(2) Any approval given by the Local Government Board under this Part of this Act may be given for such term, and subject to such conditions as the Board may think fit, and the Board shall have power to withdraw any approval which they have given.

(3) The Local Government Board may make it a condition of any approval to be given, or grant of money to be made under this Part of this Act, that the Board shall have such powers of inspection as may be agreed.

If any difficulty arises with respect to the constitution of Insurance Committees, or the advisory committee, or otherwise in bringing into operation this Part of this Act, the Insurance Commissioners, with the consent of the Treasury, may by order make any appointment and do anything which appears to them necessary or expedient for the establishment of such committees or for bringing this Part of this Act into operation, and any such order may modify the provisions of this Act so far as may appear necessary or expedient for carrying the order into effect: Provided that the Insurance Commissioners shall not exercise the powers conferred by this section after the first day of January nineteen hundred and fourteen.
For the purposes of this Part of this Act unless the context otherwise requires,—

The expression “branch,” in relation to a society, shall not include any branch of the society which is not itself separately registered ;

The expression “disease or disablement” means such disease or disablement as would entitle an insured person to sickness or disablement benefit;

The expression “dependants,” in relation to any person, includes such persons as the approved society or Insurance Committee shall ascertain to be wholly or in part dependent upon his earnings;

A person whose normal occupation is employment within the meaning of this Part of this Act shall, for the purpose of reckoning the number and rate of contributions, be deemed to continue to be an employed contributor notwithstanding that he is temporarily unemployed, but, if such period of unemployment extends beyond twelve months, he shall not continue to be an employed contributor unless the approved society of which he is a member or, if he is not a member of such a society, the Insurance Committee, is satisfied that his unemployment is due to inability to obtain employment, and is not due to any change in his normal occupation ;

The suspension of a member of an approved society from benefits under this Part of this Act shall not be deemed to deprive the member of his membership ;

Membership of an approved society means membership for the purposes of this Part of this Act;

The expression “valuer” means a person possessing actuarial qualifications as may be approved by the Treasury ;

The expression “county” means administrative county;

The Scilly Isles shall be deemed to be a county and the council of those Isles the council of a county, but the Insurance Committee for the Scilly Isles shall be constituted in such manner as the Insurance Commissioners prescribe;

Monmouthshire shall be deemed to form part of Wales ;

A person shall be deemed according to the law in England, Wales, and Ireland, as well as according to the law in Scotland, not to have attained the age of seventeen until the commencement of the seventeenth anniversary of the day of his birth, and similarly with respect to other ages.

This Part of this Act in its application to Scotland shall be subject to the following modifications :—

(1) For the purpose of carrying this Part of this Act into effect in Scotland, there shall be constituted, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, Commissioners for Scotland (to be called the Scottish Insurance Commissioners) with a central office in Edinburgh, and with such branch offices in Scotland as the Treasury may think fit, and the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, of whom one at least shall be a duly qualified medical practitioner, shall be appointed by the Treasury, and may appoint such officers, inspectors, referees, and servants for the purposes aforesaid as the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, subject to the approval of the Treasury, may determine, and the provisions of this Part of this Act with respect to the payment of the salaries and remuneration of the Insurance Commissioners, and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them, and with respect to the payment of the expenses incurred by the Treasury or the Insurance Commissioners in carrying this Part of this Act into effect shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the payment of the salaries and remuneration of the Scottish Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them and to the payment of expenses incurred by the Treasury or the Scottish Insurance Commissioners in carrying this Part of this Act into effect in Scotland, and for the purpose aforesaid the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them shall respectively have all the like powers and duties as are, by the provisions of this Act, conferred and imposed on the Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them, and references in those provisions to the Insurance Commissioners shall be construed as references to the Scottish Insurance Commissioners:

(2) All sums received from contributions under this Part of this Act in respect of insured persons resident in Scotland, and all sums paid out of moneys provided by Parliament in respect of benefits under this Part of this Act to such persons, and the expenses of administration of such benefits shall be paid into a fund to be called the Scottish National Health Insurance Fund, under the control and management of the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, and the sums required to meet expenditure properly incurred by approved societies and Insurance Committees for the purposes of such benefits and the administration of such benefits shall be paid out of that fund, and the foregoing provisions of this Act, with respect to the National Health Insurance Fund, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the Scottish National Health Insurance Fund accordingly :

(3) The expression ” Local Government Board ” means the Local Government Board for Scotland (in this section referred to as the Board) : Provided that, as regards the making of regulations respecting sums payable out of the Local Taxation (Scotland) Account, the said expression means the Secretary for Scotland; the expression ” Local Taxation Account” means the Local Taxation (Scotland) Account; and the expression “inspector of the Local Government Board” includes a person acting under section seven or section eight of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897 :

(4) The expression “county borough” means a burgh or police burgh within the meaning of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 (in this section referred to as the Act of 1889), containing within the police boundaries thereof according to the census of nineteen hundred and eleven a population of twenty thousand or upwards, and includes the burgh of Dumfries and the police burgh of Maxwelltown, as if they were a single burgh, and all other burghs and police burghs shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be held to be within the county, and unless already represented on the county council shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be represented thereon as may be determined by the Secretary for Scotland: Provided that references to the council of a county borough shall, in the case of Dumfries and Maxwelltown, be construed as references to a joint committee of the town councils thereof which shall from time to time be appointed subject to the provisions of section seventy-six of the Act of 1889 :

(5) References to a county and the county council thereof shall, as regards—

(a) the counties of Kinross and Clackmannan; and

(b) the counties of Elgin and Nairn;

be construed in each case as references respectively to a combination of the two recited counties and to a joint committee of the county councils thereof which shall from time to time be appointed subject to the provisions of section seventy-six of the Act of 1889:

(6) The minimum number of an insurance committee for any area containing a population of less than forty thousand shall be twenty-five instead of forty ; and, where a number less than forty is fixed, the constitution of the committee may be varied as may be prescribed, so, however, that the proportion of members to be appointed by insured persons and by a county or town council and the number of members possessing a medical qualification shall not be altered:

(7) No person, except a medical practitioner qualified as such, shall be qualified for appointment as member of an Insurance Committee by a county or town council unless he is a member of a local authority within the county under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, or of the town council, as the case may be; but this requirement shall not apply to women if women so qualified are not available:

(8) Before submitting for approval a scheme prescribing areas to be assigned to district committees, the Insurance Committee of a county shall consult with the county council, or any committee thereof appointed for the purpose, and shall consider any representation received from them :

Where, owing to sparseness of population, difficulties of communication, or other special circumstances, they consider it desirable, an Insurance Committee shall have power, with the consent of the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, to modify or suspend any benefits for the administration of which they are responsible ; but, where such modification or suspension takes place, provision shall be made by the Committee, with the like consent, for the increase of other benefits or the grant of one or more additional benefits to an amount equivalent to the value of the modification or suspension :

(10)—(a) If it appears to any county council that, having regard to the number of employed contributors resident in the county who are not members of any society approved under the foregoing provisions of this Act, it is desirable that steps should be taken for the establishment under the council of an approved society for the county (in this section referred to as a county society) the council may, at any time before the expiration of one year from the commencement of this Act, submit to the Scottish Insurance Commissioners a scheme for the establishment of a county society; (6) The scheme may provide for—

(i) the representation of the council on the committee of management of the society ;

(ii) the appointment of officers subject to the approval of the council;

(iii) the delegation of powers to committees;

(iv) the giving of security by means of a charge upon the general purposes rate or otherwise ;

(v) the restriction of membership to insured persons resident in the county not being members of any other approved society ;

(vi) the reduction of benefits below the minimum rates fixed by this Part of this Act; and

(vii) such other matters as may appear necessary, and in particular such further modifications of the provisions of this Part of this Act with respect to approved societies as may be required for the purpose of adapting those provisions to the case of a county society;

(c) Where such a scheme has been approved by the Scottish Insurance Commissioners, the provisions of the scheme shall have effect, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Part of this Act and subject to those provisions, the county society shall be an approved society for all the purposes of this Part of this Act;

(d) A county council desirous of submitting a scheme under this section may, at any time after the passing of this Act, take such steps as appear necessary with a view to ascertaining what insured persons resident in the county are eligible and willing to become members of the proposed county society, and generally for the formation of the society;

(11) A person appointed in terms of the section of this Act relating to excessive sickness to hold an inquiry shall report to the authority appointing him, and any further action following on such inquiry which, in accordance with the provisions of that section, is to be or may be taken by the person making the inquiry, shall not be taken by him, but may be taken by that authority after consideration of the report, and that section shall be read and construed accordingly:

(12) Expenses incurred by a county council under this Part of this Act shall be defrayed out of the general purposes rate ; provided that, notwithstanding anything contained in the Act of 1889, the ratepayers of a police burgh shall not be assessed by the county council for any such expenses unless the police burgh is, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, held to be within the county ; and provided further that, with respect to every burgh within the meaning of the Act of 1889, which is, for the purposes of this Act, held to be within the county, subsection (3) and subsection (4) of section sixty, and section sixty-six, of the Act of 1889, shall, so far as applicable, have effect as if such expenses were expenditure therein mentioned :

(13) Expenses incurred by a town council under this Part of this Act (whether under requisition from the county council or otherwise) shall be defrayed out of the public health general assessment, but shall not be reckoned in any calculation as to the statutory limit of that assessment; and references to the borough fund or borough rate shall be construed accordingly :

(14) The expression “borough” and the expression “urban district ” mean a burgh or police burgh within the meaning of the Act of 1889, and the expressions “rural district” and “council of a rural district,” unless inconsistent with the context, mean respectively a district of a county within the meaning of the said Act and the district committee thereof: Provided that the population limit prescribed for boroughs and urban districts in the subsection of this Act relating to the appointment of district committees for these areas shall not apply :

(15) The expression “Lord Chief Justice ” means the Lord President of the Court of Session :

(16) The expression “county court” means the sheriff court; and, in lieu of an appeal from the county court upon any question of law, there shall be substituted an appeal from the sheriff upon any question of law in terms of subsection (6) of the Second Schedule to the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1906 :

Provided that the decision of either division of the Court of Session on such appeal shall be final:

(17) The expression “workhouse ” means poorhouse ; “coverture ” means marriage ; “levy any distress or execution ” means use any diligence ; “ejectment” means removing; “amount of judgment debt” means amount decerned for ; “registrar of the county court” means court exercising jurisdiction in the proceedings ; “certified midwife” means any midwife possessing such qualifications as may be prescribed ; “public elementary school” means public school; “Public Health Acts” means the Public Health (Scotland) Acts, 1897 and 1907 ; ” Local Loans Act 1875 ” means the Local Authorities Loans (Scotland) Acts, 1891 and 1893 ; and ” High Court ” means Court of Session :

(18) Unless inconsistent with the context, references to the Elementary School Teachers’ Superannuation Act, 1898, to the deferred annuity fund under that Act, and to the Board of Education, shall be construed, respectively, as references to section fourteen of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, and a scheme thereunder, to the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Fund, and to the Scotch Education Department.

This Part of this Act, in its application to Ireland, shall be subject to the following modifications :—

(1) For the purpose of carrying this Part of this Act into effect in Ireland, there shall be constituted, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, Commissioners for Ireland (to be called the Irish Insurance Commissioners), with a central office in Dublin, and with such branch offices in Ireland as the Treasury may think fit, and the Irish Insurance Commissioners, of whom one at least shall be a duly qualified medical practitioner, shall be appointed by the Treasury, and may appoint such officers, inspectors, referees, and servants for the purposes aforesaid as the Irish Insurance Commissioners, subject to the approval of the Treasury, may determine, and the provisions of this Part of this Act with respect to the payment of the salaries and remuneration of the Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them, and with respect to the payment of the expenses incurred by the Treasury or the Insurance Commissioners in carrying this Part of this Act into effect shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the payment of the salaries and remuneration of the Irish Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them and to the payment of expenses incurred by the Treasury or the Irish Insurance Commissioners in carrying this Part of this Act into effect in Ireland, and for the purpose aforesaid the Irish Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them shall respectively have all the like powers and duties as are by the provisions of this Act conferred and imposed on the Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them, and references in those provisions to the Insurance Commissioners shall be construed as references to the Irish Insurance Commissioners :

(2) All sums received from contributions under this Part of this Act in respect of insured persons resident in Ireland and all sums paid out of moneys provided by Parliament in respect of benefits under this Part of this Act to such persons and the expenses of administration of such benefits shall be paid into a fund to be called the Irish National Health Insurance Fund, under the control and management of the Irish Insurance Commissioners, and the sums required to meet expenditure properly incurred by approved societies and Insurance Committees for the purposes of such benefits and the administration of such benefits shall be paid out of that fund and the foregoing provisions of this Act with respect to the National Health Insurance Fund shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the Irish National Health Insurance Fund accordingly:

(3) The provisions of this Part of this Act conferring a right to exemption shall extend to any person employed in harvesting or other agricultural work who proves—

(a) that he is an Irish migratory labourer, that is to say, a person who, having a permanent home at some place in Ireland, has temporarily removed to some other place in Ireland or to Great Britain for the purpose of obtaining such employment; and

(b) that he ordinarily resides at such permanent home for not less than twenty-six weeks in the year and is not employed within the meaning of this Part of this Act whilst so resident;

and any contributions paid in Great Britain by the employer of a person holding a certificate of exemption by virtue of this provision shall be transferred to the Irish Insurance Commissioners for the purpose of being carried to such account and being dealt with in such manner as may be prescribed by the regulations made in that behalf by the Irish Insurance Commissioners:

(4) Employment in Ireland as an outworker, where the wages or other remuneration derived from the employment are not the principal means of livelihood of the person employed, shall be deemed to be included amongst the excepted employments specified in Part II. of the First Schedule to this Act:

(5) The reference to the Lord Chancellor shall be construed as a reference to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland ;

The reference to the Local Government Board, as regards the making of regulations with respect to payments out of the Local Taxation Account, shall be construed as a reference to the Lord Lieutenant, and other references to the Local Government Board shall be construed as references to the Local Government Board for Ireland, and the reference to the Local Taxation Account shall be construed as a reference to the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account:

(6) A reference to the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Acts, 1890 to 1908, shall be substituted for the reference to the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1909, a reference to the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1907, shall be substituted for the reference to the Public Health Acts and a reference to the rate or fund applicable to the purposes of the Public Health (Ireland) Acts, 1878 to 1907, shall be substituted for any reference to the borough rate or borough fund :

(7)—(a) If it appears to any county council that, having regard to the number of employed contributors resident in the county who are not members of any society approved under the foregoing provisions of this Act it is desirable that steps should be taken by the council for the establishment of an approved society for the county under the council (in this section referred to as a county society), the council may, at any time before the expiration of one year from the commencement of this Act, submit to the Irish Insurance Commissioners a scheme for the establishment of a county society ;

(b) The scheme may provide for—

(i) the representation of the council on the committee of management of the society ;

(ii) the appointment of officers subject to the approval of the council;

(iii)the delegation of powers to committees ;

(iv) the giving of security by means of a charge upon the county fund or otherwise ;

(v) the restriction of membership to insured persons resident in the county not being members of any other approved society ;

(vi) the reduction of benefits below the minimum rates fixed by this Part of this Act; and

(c) Where such a scheme has been approved by the Irish Insurance Commissioners, the provisions of the scheme shall have effect, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Part of this Act; and, subject to those provisions, the county society shall be an approved society for all the purposes of this Part of this Act;

(8) The provisions with respect to the appointment of Insurance Committees shall have effect, subject to the following modifications, namely :—

The number of members of an Insurance Committee shall be twenty-four, and of that number—

(a) twelve shall be appointed in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations of the Irish Insurance Commissioners so as to secure representation of the insured persons resident in the county or county borough who are members of approved societies, and who are deposit contributors, in proportion, as nearly as may be, to their respective numbers, and the regulations so made shall provide for conferring on the approved societies which have members resident in the county or county borough the power of appointing representatives of such members, and, where an association of deposit contributors resident in the county or county borough has been formed under such regulations as aforesaid, for conferring on such association the power of appointing the representatives of the deposit contributors;

(b) eight (of whom at least one shall be a member of a local sanitary authority and at least two shall be women) shall be appointed by the council of the county or county borough; and

(c) four (of whom at least two shall be duly qualified medical practitioners) shall be appointed by the Irish Insurance Commissioners : Provided that the Irish Insurance Commissioners may, where any part of the cost of sanatorium benefit is defrayed by the council of the county or county borough, increase the representation of the council and make a corresponding diminution in the representation of the insured persons :

(9) An insured person in Ireland shall not be entitled to medical benefit under this Part of this Act, and the provisions with respect to medical benefit shall not apply:

Provided that medical benefit for an insured person being a member of an approved society shall be deemed to be included amongst the additional benefits specified in Part II. of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, and that such medical benefit when provided shall be administered by the Insurance Committee in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act, unless the Irish Insurance Commissioners otherwise direct:

(10) As respects employed contributors in Ireland, the employed rate shall be the rate specified in Part II. of the Second Schedule to this Act, and the contributions by the contributors and contributions by the employers shall be at the rates specified in Part II. instead of the rates specified in Part I. of that schedule, and there shall be credited to the society of which any employed contributor in Ireland is a member or, if he is a deposit contributor, to his account in the Post Office fund, the difference between the amount of contributions actually paid by or in respect of him at the rate specified in Part II. of the Second Schedule to this Act and the amount which would have been paid if those contributions had been at the rate specified in Part I. of that schedule, and the amount of that difference shall be treated as having been expended on benefits and the proper proportion thereof shall accordingly be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament:

(11) The foregoing provisions of this section as to the crediting of differences shall apply in the case of voluntary contributors resident in Ireland, with the modification that, where the voluntary rate is not the same as the employed rate, the difference to be credited shall be the difference between the amount of contributions actually paid at the voluntary rate and the amount which would have been paid if the contributor had been a voluntary contributor resident in Great Britain:

Provided that, in the case of a married woman resident in Ireland becoming a voluntary contributor at reduced rates of benefit under the special provisions with respect to married women, the rate of contributions payable by her shall be one penny half-penny a week instead of three pence a week, and the difference to be credited shall be one penny half-penny a week accordingly:

(12) In ascertaining the voluntary rate applicable to voluntary contributors in Ireland in cases where that rate is not the same as the employed rate, regard shall be had both to the provisions of this section as to the crediting of differences and to the proportion of benefits to be paid out of the contributions payable by or in respect of such contributors:

(13) Rules of an approved society or Insurance Committee under this Part of this Act may provide for the inspection of medical relief registers by officers of the society or Committee at all reasonable times, and for the furnishing to the society or Committee of such medical certificates as may be necessary for the purposes of the administration of the benefits administered by the society or Committee, and for the payment by the society or Committee to duly qualified medical practitioners of such remuneration in respect of the furnishing of those certificates as the Irish Insurance Commissioners may sanction, and all payments so made by the society or Committee shall be treated as expenses of administering the benefits aforesaid:

(14) If a grant is made to a county council or county borough council out of any sum made available under any other Act of the present session for the purposes of the provision of or making grants in aid to sanatoria and other institutions for the treatment of tuberculosis or such other diseases as the Local Government Board may, with the approval of the Treasury, appoint, the council may, subject to the sanction of the Local Government Board, exercise for all or any of those purposes the powers given to them by Part II. of the Tuberculosis Prevention (Ireland) Act, 1908, in like manner as if those purposes were purposes authorised by that Part of that Act, and any expenses of the council so far as not defrayed out of the grant shall be defrayed in manner provided by that Part of that Act:

(15) For the purposes of proceedings in Ireland under the provisions of this Part of this Act relative to disputes, regulations of the Irish Insurance Commissioners may apply all or any of the provisions of the Common Law Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1856, with respect to arbitration:

(16) The special provisions with respect to the reduction of contributions in cases where the employer is liable to pay wages during sickness shall have effect, subject to the modification that, where the rate of contributions payable by the employed contributor is one halfpenny a week, the weekly contributions payable by the employer shall be reduced by one penny halfpenny (or, if the employed contributor is a woman, one penny), and the weekly contributions payable by the employed contributor shall be reduced by one halfpenny:

(17) In the special provision’s as to persons becoming certificated teachers, references to the Board of Education, to the Elementary School Teachers’ (Superannuation) Act, 1898, and to a public elementary school shall respectively be construed as references to the Superintendent of the Teachers’ Pension Office, to the National School Teachers’ (Ireland) Act, 1879, and to a national school, and any sums paid to the Superintendent of the Teachers’ Pension Office in pursuance of those provisions shall be carried to the Pension Fund established under the last-mentioned Act and shall be dealt with in accordance with rules under that Act:

(18) As respects insured persons in Ireland, “six-elevenths ” shall be substituted for “four-sevenths” and (in the case of women) “four-ninths” shall be substituted for “one-half “:

(19) For the reference to the registrar of the county court, there shall be substituted a reference to a magistrate appointed, under the Constabulary (Ireland) Act, 1836 :

(20) For references to a duly certified midwife, there shall be substituted references to a midwife having such qualifications as may be prescribed.

82.—(1) For the purpose of carrying this Part of this Act into effect in Wales, there shall be constituted, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, Commissioners for Wales (to be called the Welsh Insurance Commissioners) with a central office in such town in Wales as the Treasury may determine, and with such branch offices in Wales as the Treasury may think fit, and the Welsh Insurance Commissioners, of whom one at least shall be a duly qualified medical practitioner, shall be appointed by the Treasury, and may appoint such officers, inspectors, referees, and servants for the purposes aforesaid as the Welsh Insurance Commissioners, subject to the approval of the Treasury, may determine, and the provisions of this Part of this Act with respect to the payment of the salaries and remuneration of the Insurance Commissioners, and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them, and with respect to the payment of the expenses incurred by the Treasury or the Insurance Commissioners in carrying this Part of this Act into effect shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the payment of the salaries and remuneration of the Welsh Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them, and to the payment of expenses incurred by the Treasury or the Welsh Insurance Commissioners in carrying this Part of this Act into effect in Wales, and for the purpose aforesaid the Welsh Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them shall respectively have all the like powers and duties as are by the provisions of this Act conferred and imposed on the Insurance Commissioners and the officers, inspectors, referees, and servants appointed by them, and references in those provisions to the Insurance Commissioners shall be construed as references to the Welsh Insurance Commissioners.

(2) All sums received from contributions under this Part of this Act in respect of insured persons resident in Wales, and all sums paid out of moneys provided by Parliament in respect of benefits under this Part of this Act to such persons, and the expenses of administration of such benefits shall be paid into a fund to be called the Welsh National Health Insurance Fund, under the control and management of the Welsh Insurance Commissioners, and the sums required to meet expenditure properly incurred by approved societies and Insurance Committees for the purposes of such benefits and the administration of such benefits shall be paid out of that fund, and the foregoing provisions of this Act, with respect to the National Health Insurance Fund, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the Welsh National Health Insurance Fund accordingly.

(3) The powers of the Local Government Board with respect to the distribution of any sum available for the purpose of the provision of or making grants in aid to sanatoria and other institutions shall, as respects the part thereof apportioned to Wales, be exercised by the Welsh Insurance Commissioners.

(4) If before or within twelve months after the commencement of this Act there is established for Wales by royal charter an association for the purpose of providing sanatoria and other institutions for the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis or such other diseases as the Local Government Board, with the approval of the Treasury, may appoint, the Welsh Insurance Commissioners in making and the Treasury in approving grants from any such sum as is in the last preceding subsection mentioned shall have regard to the provision of such institutions which may have been made, or may be proposed to be made, by the association.

83.—(1) There shall be constituted as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, in accordance with regulations to be made by the Treasury, a joint committee or the several bodies Of Commissioners appointed for the purposes of this Part of this Act, consisting of such members of each such body selected in such manner as may be provided by the regulations and of a chairman and other members (not exceeding two in number) to be appointed by the Treasury, and the chairman shall not by reason of his office be incapable of being elected to or voting in the Commons House of Parliament.

(2)The joint committee may make such financial adjustments as may be necessary between the several funds under the control and management of the several bodies of Commissioners, and shall exercise and perform such powers and duties of the several bodies of Commissioners under this Part of this Act, either alone or jointly with any of those bodies, as may be provided by such regulations.

(3)Amongst the powers so exerciseable by the joint committee shall be included a power of making regulations as to the valuation of societies and branches which have amongst their members persons resident in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, or any two or any three of such parts of the United Kingdom, and the regulations so made shall require that, for the purposes of the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to valuations, surpluses, deficiencies and transfers, the members resident in each such part shall be treated as if they formed a separate society.

(4) Regulations made by the Treasury under this section shall be laid before Parliament as soon as may be after they are made, but, if an Address is presented to His Majesty|,by either House of Parliament within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat next after any such regulation is laid before it, praying that the regulation may be annulled, His Majesty in Council may annul the regulation and it shall thenceforth be void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Part II. Unemployment Insurance.

Every workman who, having been employed in a trade mentioned in the Sixth Schedule to this Act (in this Act referred to as “an insured trade”), is unemployed, and in whose case the conditions laid down by this Part of this Act (in this Act referred to as ” statutory conditions”) are fulfilled, shall be entitled, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, to receive payments (in this Act referred to as “unemployment benefit “) at weekly or other prescribed intervals at such rates and for such periods as are authorised by or under the Seventh Schedule to this Act, so long as those conditions continue to be fulfilled and so long as he is not disqualified under this Act for the receipt of unemployment benefit : —

Provided that unemployment benefit shall not be paid in respect of any period of unemployment which occurs. during the six months following the commencement of this Act.

— (1) The sums required for the payment of unemployment benefit under this Act shall be derived partly from contributions by workmen in the insured trades and partly from contributions by employers of such workmen and partly from moneys provided by Parliament.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, every workman employed within the United Kingdom in an insured trade, and every employer of any such workman, shall be liable to pay contributions at the rates specified in the Eighth Schedule to this Act.

(3) Except where the regulations under this Part of this Act otherwise prescribe, the employer shall, in the first instance, be liable to pay both the contribution payable by himself, and also on behalf of and to the exclusion of the workman, the contribution payable by such workman, and subject to such regulations, shall be entitled, notwithstanding the provisions of any Act or any contract to the contrary, to recover from the workman by deductions from the workman’s wages or from any other payment due from him to the workman the amount of the contributions so paid by him on behalf of the workman.

(4) Notwithstanding any contract to the contrary, the employer shall not be entitled to deduct from the wages of or other payment due -to the workman, or otherwise recover from the workman by any legal process the contributions payable by the employer himself.

(5) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the Board of Trade may make regulations providing for any matters incidental to the payment and collection of contributions payable under this Part of this Act, and in particular for —

(a) payment of contributions by means of adhesive or other stamps affixed to or impressed upon books or cards, or otherwise, and for regulating the manner, times and conditions in, at and under which such stamps are to be affixed and impressed or payments are otherwise to be made;

(6) the issue, sale, custody, production, and delivery up of books or cards and the replacement of books or cards which have been lost destroyed or defaced.

(6) A contribution shall be made in each year out of moneys provided by Parliament equal to one-third of the total contributions received from employers and workmen during that year, and the sums to be contributed in any year shall be paid in such manner and at such times as the Treasury may determine.

The statutory conditions for the receipt of unemployment benefit by any workman are—

(1) that he proves that he has been employed as a workman in an insured trade in each of not less than twenty- six separate calendar weeks in the preceding five years;

(2) that he has made application for unemployment benefit in the prescribed manner, and proves that since the date of the application he has been continuously unemployed;

(3) that he is capable of work but unable to obtain suitable employment;

(4) that he has not exhausted his right to unemployment benefit under this Part of this Act:

Provided that a workman shall not be deemed to have failed to fulfil the statutory conditions by reason only that he has declined—

(a) an offer of employment in a situation vacant in consequence of a stoppage of work due to a trade dispute ; or

(b) an offer of employment in the district where he was last ordinarily employed at a rate of wage lower, or on conditions less favourable, than those which he habitually obtained in his usual employment in that district, or would have obtained had he continued to be so employed ; or

(c) an offer of employment in any other district at a rate of wage lower or on conditions less favourable than those generally observed in such district by agreement between associations of employers and of workmen, or, failing any such agreement, than those generally recognised in such district by good employers.

87.—(1) A workman who has lost employment by reason of a stoppage of work which was due to a trade dispute at the factory, workshop, or other premises at which he was employed, shall be disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit so long as the stoppage of work continues, except in a case where he has, during the stoppage of work, become bona fide employed elsewhere in an insured trade.

Where separate branches of work which are commonly carried on as separate businesses in separate premises are in any case carried on in separate departments on the same premises, each of those departments shall, for the purposes of this provision, be deemed to be a separate factory or workshop or separate premises, as the case may be.

(2) A workman who loses employment through misconduct or who voluntarily leaves his employment without just cause shall be disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit for a period of six weeks from the date when he so lost employment.

(3) A workman shall be disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit whilst he is an inmate of any prison or any work-house or other institution supported wholly or partly out of public funds, and whilst he is resident temporarily or permanently outside the United Kingdom.

(4) A workman shall be disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit while he is in receipt of any sickness or disablement benefit or disablement allowance under Part I. of this Act.

88.—(1) All claims for unemployment benefit under this Part of this Act, and all questions whether the statutory conditions are fulfilled in the case of any workman claiming such benefit, or whether those conditions continue to be fulfilled in the case of a workman in receipt of such benefit, or whether a workman is disqualified for receiving or continuing to receive such benefit, or otherwise arising in connection with such claims, shall be determined by one of the officers appointed under this Part of this Act for determining such claims for benefit (in this Act referred to as “insurance officers”): Provided that—

(a) in any case where unemployment benefit is refused or is stopped, or where the amount of the benefit allowed is not in accordance with the claim, the workman may require the insurance officer to report the matter to a court of referees constituted in accordance with this Part of this Act, and the court of referees after considering the circumstances may make to the insurance officer such recommendations on the case as they may think proper, and the insurance officer shall, unless he disagrees, give effect to those recommendations. If the insurance officer disagrees with any such recommendation, he shall, if so requested by the court of referees, refer the recommendation, with his reasons for disagreement, to the umpire appointed under this Part of this Act, whose decision shall be final and conclusive ;

(b) the insurance officer in any case in which he considers it expedient to do so may, instead of himself determining the claim or question, refer it to a court of referees, who shall in such case determine the question, and the decision of the court of referees shall be final and conclusive.

(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing an insurance officer or umpire, or a court of referees, on new facts being brought to his or their knowledge, revising a decision or recommendation given in any particular case, but, where any such revision is made, the revised decision or recommendation shall have effect as if it had been an original decision or recommendation, and the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply accordingly, without prejudice to the retention of any benefit which, may have been received under the decision or recommendation which has been revised.

(3) The Arbitration Act, 1889, shall not apply to proceedings under this section, except so far as it may be applied by regulations under this Part of this Act.

(4) For the purposes of proceedings under this section in Ireland, regulations may apply all or any of the provisions of the Common Law Procedure (Ireland) Act, 185B, with respect to arbitration.

89.—(1) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, an insurance umpire may be appointed by His Majesty, and shall be appointed by the Board of Trade (subject to the consent of the Treasury as to number) and the insurance officers shall be appointed to act for such areas as the Board direct.

(2) The Board of Trade may appoint such other officers, inspectors, and servants for the purposes of this Part of this Act as the Board may, with the sanction of the Treasury, determine, and there shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament to the umpire and insurance officers and to such other officers, inspectors, and servants, such salaries or remuneration as the Treasury may determine; and any expenses incurred by the Board of Trade in carrying this Part of this Act into effect to such amount as may be sanctioned by the Treasury shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament :

Provided that such sum as the Treasury may direct, not exceeding one-tenth of the receipts, other than advances by the Treasury, paid into the unemployment fund on income account shall, in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury, be applied as an appropriation in aid of money provided by Parliament for the purpose of such salaries, remuneration, and expenses.

90.—(1) A court of referees for the purposes of this Part of this Act shall consist of one or more members chosen to represent employers, with an equal number of members chosen to represent workmen, and a chairman appointed by the Board of Trade.

2) Panels of persons chosen to represent employers and workmen respectively shall be constituted by the Board of Trade for such districts and such trades or groups of trades as the Board may think fit, and the members of a court of referees to be chosen to represent employers and workmen shall be selected from those panels in the prescribed manner.

3) Subject as aforesaid, the constitution of courts of referees shall be determined by regulations made by the Board of Trade.

4) The regulations of the Board of Trade may further provide for the reference to referees chosen from the panels constituted under this section, for consideration and advice, of questions bearing upon the administration of this Part of this Act, and for the holding of meetings of referees for the purpose.

(5) The Board of Trade may pay such remuneration to the chairman and other members of a court of referees and such travelling and other allowances (including compensation for loss of time) to persons required to attend before any such court, and such other expenses in connection with any referees, as the Board, with the sanction of the Treasury determine, and any such payments shall be treated as expenses incurred by the Board of Trade in carrying this Part of this Act into effect.

91.—(1) The Board of Trade may make regulations for any of the purposes for which regulations may be made under this Part of this Act and the Schedules therein referred to, and for prescribing anything which under this Part of this Act or any such Schedules is to be prescribed, and—

(a) for permitting workmen who are employed under the same employer partly in an insured trade and partly not in an insured trade to be treated with the consent of the employer as if they were wholly employed in an insured trade ; and

(b) for giving employers, and workmen, and the Board of Trade an opportunity of obtaining a decision by the umpire appointed under this Part of this Act on any question whether contributions under this Part of this Act are payable in respect of any workman or class of workmen, and for securing that a workman in whose case contributions have been paid in accordance with any such decision, shall, as respects any unemployment benefit payable in respect of those contributions, be treated as a workman employed in an insured trade, and for securing that employers and workmen shall be protected from proceedings and penalties in cases where, in accordance with any such decision, they have paid or refrained from paying contributions; and

(c) for prescribing the evidence to be required as to the fulfilment of the conditions and qualifications for receiving or continuing to receive unemployment benefit, and for that purpose requiring the attendance of workmen at such offices or places and at such times as may be required; and

(d) for prescribing the manner in which claims for unemployment benefit may be made and the procedure to be followed on the consideration and examination of claims and questions to be considered and determined by the insurance officers, courts of referees, and umpire, and the mode in which any question may be raised as to the continuance, in the case of a workman in receipt of unemployment benefit, of such benefit, and for making provision with respect to the appointment of a deputy umpire in the case of the unavoidable absence or incapacity of the umpire; and

(e) with respect to the payment of contributions and benefits during any period intervening between any application for the decision of any question or any claim for benefit, and the final determination of the question or claim; and

(f) for providing that, where any workmen are employed in or for the purposes of the business of any person, but are not actually employed by that person, that person may be treated for the purposes of this Part of this Act as their employer instead of their actual employer, and for allowing that person to deduct from any payments made by him to the actual employer any sums paid by him as contributions on behalf of the workmen, and for allowing the actual employer to recover the like sums from the workmen ; and generally for carrying this Part of this Act into effect, and any regulations so made shall have effect as if enacted in this Act.

Any regulations made under this section for giving an opportunity of obtaining a decision of the umpire may be brought into operation as soon as may be after the passing of this Act.

5) The regulations may, with the concurrence of the Postmaster-General, provide for enabling claimants of unemployment benefit to make their claims for unemployment benefit under this Act through the Post Office, and for the payment of unemployment benefit through the Post Office.

6) All regulations made under this section shall be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as may be after they are made, and, if an address is presented to His Majesty by either House of Parliament within the next subsequent forty days on which that House has sat next after any such regulation is laid before it, praying that the regulation may be annulled, it shall thenceforth be void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder, or to the making of any new regulation.

92.—(1) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, there shall be established under the control and management of the Board of Trade a fund called the unemployment fund, into which shall be paid all Contributions payable under this Part of this Act by employers and workmen and out of moneys provided by Parliament, and out of which shall be paid all claims for unemployment benefit and any other payments which tinder this Part of. this Act are payable, out of the fund.

(2) The accounts of the unemployment fund shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General in such manner as the Treasury may direct.

3) Any moneys forming part of the unemployment fund may from time to time be paid over to the National Debt Commissioners and by them invested in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury in any securities which are for the time being authorised by Parliament as investments for savings banks moneys.

4) The National Debt Commissioners shall present to Parliament annually an account of the securities in which moneys forming part of the said fund are for the time being invested.

93.—(1) The Treasury may out of the Consolidated Fund or the growing produce thereof advance on the security of the unemployment fund any sums required for the purpose of discharging the liabilities of that fund under this Part of this Act: Provided that the total amount of advances outstanding at any time shall not exceed three million pounds.

(2) If, whilst any part of any such advance is outstanding, it appears to the Treasury that the unemployment fund is insolvent, the Board of Trade shall, if the Treasury so direct, by order, make such temporary modifications in any of the rates of contribution, or the rates or periods of unemployment benefit, and during such period, as the Board of Trade think fit, and as will on the whole, in the opinion of the Treasury, be sufficient to secure the solvency of the unemployment fund:

Provided that no order made under this subsection shall reduce the weekly rate of unemployment benefit below the sum of five shillings, or shall increase the rates of contribution from employers or workmen by more than one penny per workman per week, or increase those rates unequally as between employers and workmen, and no such order shall remain in force more than three months after all the advances and interest thereon have been repaid, or come into force until one month after it is made.

(3) An order under this section shall not be made so as to be in force at any time while any previous order made under this section is in force.

(4) On any such order being made, the Board of Trade shall cause the order, together with a special report as to the reasons for making the order, to be laid before Parliament.

(5) The Treasury may, for the purpose of providing for the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund under this section, or for the repayment to that fund of all or any part of the sums so issued, or for paying off any security issued under this section, so far as that payment is not otherwise provided for, borrow money by means of the issue of Exchequer bonds or Treasury bills, and all sums so borrowed shall be paid into the Exchequer.

(6) The principal of and interest on any Exchequer bonds issued under this section shall be charged on and payable out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, or the growing produce thereof.

(7) Notwithstanding anything in any other Act, money in the hands of the National Debt Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt shall not be applied to purchasing, reducing, or paying off any Exchequer bonds or Treasury bills issued under this section.

94.—(1) The Board of Trade shall, on the application of any employer made within one month after the termination of any calendar year, or other prescribed period of twelve months, refund to such employer out of the unemployment fund a sum equal to one-third of the contributions (exclusive of any contributions refunded to him under any other provisions of this Part of this Act) paid by him on his own behalf during that period in respect of any workman who has been continuously in his service through the period, and in respect of whom not less than forty-five contributions have been paid during the period.

(2) For the purpose of meeting any change in the period for which any refund of contributions is to be made under the foregoing provisions of this section, or for the purpose of making provision for any period which may elapse between the date on which contributions commence to be payable under this Part of this Act and the date on which the first period for the refund of contributions under the foregoing provisions of this section commences, the Board of Trade may, so far as necessary for the purpose, apply the provisions of this section to any period less than twelve months, subject to such proportionate reduction of the number of contributions required as they direct, and this section shall take effect as regards any such period of less than twelve months as so applied.

95.—(1) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade by any workman or his personal representatives that the workman has paid contributions in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act in respect of five hundred weeks or upwards, and that the workman has reached the age of sixty, or before his death had reached the age of sixty, the workman or his representatives shall be entitled to be repaid the amount, if any, by which the total amount of such contributions have exceeded the total amount received by him out of the unemployment fund under this Act, together with compound interest at the rate of two and a half per cent, per annum calculated in the prescribed manner.

(2) A repayment to a workman under this section shall not affect his liability to pay contributions under this Part of this Act, and, if after any such repayment he becomes entitled to unemployment benefit, he shall be treated as having paid in respect of the period for which the repayment has been made the full number of contributions which is most nearly equal to five-eighths of the number of contributions actually paid during that period.

96.— (1) If any employer satisfies the Board of Trade that during any period of depression in his business workmen employed by him have been systematically working short time, and that during such period he has paid contributions under this Part of this Act on behalf of such workmen, as well as on his own behalf, without recovering such contributions from such workmen either by way of deductions from wages or otherwise, there shall be refunded to him out of the unemployment fund, in accordance with regulations made by the Board of Trade, the contributions so paid by him in respect of those workmen (including those paid on behalf of the workmen as well as those paid on his own behalf), for the period or such part thereof as in the circumstances may seem just:

Provided that, except in a case where the working of short time has been effected by stopping the work for some day in the week which has been usually recognised as a working day of at least four hours in the trade and district, no such refund shall be made in respect of any workmen for any week in which the hours of work have exceeded five-sixths of the number usually recognised as constituting a full week’s work at that time in the trade and district.

(2) Any employer who desires to take advantage of this section may make an application to the Board of Trade with a view to obtaining their ruling as to the circumstances under which, and the means by which, he proposes to effect a reduction of working hours, and the Board of Trade may, if they think fit, on the necessary information being supplied, give their ruling as to whether the circumstances are such, and the proposed means of reducing working hours are such, as to satisfy the requirements of this section.

Where a workman is employed in a district which is rural in its character, and the workman usually follows in that district some occupation other than an insured trade, and is employed in an insured trade occasionally only, contributions under this Part of this Act shall not be payable in respect of the workman, except in cases where the employer and the workman agree that contributions shall be payable notwithstanding this provision.
Where a man of the Naval Reserves, the Army Reserve, or the Territorial Force, is being trained and is in receipt of pay out of the moneys provided by Parliament for Navy or Army services, and immediately before the training was employed in an insured trade, he shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be deemed, whilst so training, to be in the employment of the Crown in an insured trade.

99.—(1) The Board of Trade may, in such, cases and on such, conditions as the Board may prescribe, make an arrangement with any employer liable to pay contributions under any part of this Act, whereby, in respect of workmen engaged by him through a labour exchange, or in his employ at the date of such arrangement, the performance of all or any of the duties required under any part of this Act to be performed by the employer in respect of those workmen, whether on his own behalf or on behalf of the workmen, shall be undertaken on belief of the employer by the labour exchange, and whereby in reject of such workmen different periods of employment, whether of the same workmen, or different workmen, may, for the purposes of the employer’s contributions under this Part of this Act, but not for the purposes of a refund of any part of the employer’s contributions, be treated as a continuous employment of a single workman.

(2) Where any such arrangement has been made, all the periods of employment during which a workman engaged through a labour exchange is employed by one or more employers with whom such an arrangement has been made, may, subject to regulations made by the Board of Trade, on the application of the workman, be treated for the purposes of his contributions under this Part of this Act as a continuous period of employment under one employer, and those regulations may provide for the refund of part of his contributions under this Part of this Act accordingly.

100.—(1) If the repeated failure of any insured workman to obtain or retain employment appears to the insurance officer to be wholly or partly due to defects in skill or knowledge, the insurance officer may, if he thinks fit, for the purpose of testing the skill or knowledge of the workman, offer to arrange for the attendance of the workman at a suitable place for the purpose, and may, out of the unemployment fund, pay all or any of the expenses incidental to such attendance.

If the workman fails or refuses either to avail himself of the offer, or to produce satisfactory evidence of his competence, or if as a result of the test the insurance officer considers that the skill or knowledge of the workman is defective, and that there is no reasonable prospect of such defects being remedied, such facts shall be taken into consideration in determining what is suitable employment for the workman.

If in any case as a result of the test the insurance officer considers that the skill or knowledge of the workman is defective, but that there is a reasonable prospect of the defects being remedied by technical instruction, the insurance officer may, subject to any directions given by the Board of Trade, pay out of the unemployment fund all or any of the expenses incidental to the provision of the instruction, if he is of opinion that the charge on the unemployment fund in respect of the workman is likely to be decreased by the provision of the instruction.

(2) The regulations of the Board of Trade made under this Part of this Act shall provide for the return to a workman who is not a workman in an insured trade and to his employer of any contributions paid by them respectively under the belief that the workman was a workman in an insured trade, subject, in the case of the workmen’s contributions, to the deduction of any amount received by him in respect of unemployment benefit under a similar belief.

(3) Where under regulations made by the Board of Trade any sum has been paid out of the unemployment fund by way of reward for the return of a book or card which has been lost, the person responsible for the custody of the book or card at the time of its loss shall be liable to repay the sum so paid, not exceeding one shilling in respect of any one occasion.

101.—(1) If for the purpose of obtaining any benefit or payment under this Part of this Act, either for himself or for any other person, or for the purpose of avoiding any payment to be made by himself under this Part of this Act, or enabling any other person to avoid any such payment, any person knowingly makes any false statement or false representation, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour.

(2) If any employer or workman has failed to pay any contributions which he is liable under this Part of this Act to pay, or if any employer or workman or any other person refuses or neglects to comply with any of the requirements of this Part of this Act, or the regulations made thereunder, he shall, for each offence, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, and also, where the offence is failure or neglect to make any contribution under this Part of this Act, to pay to the unemployment fund a sum equal to three times the amount which he has refused or neglected to pay (not exceeding five pounds), which sum, when paid, shall be treated as a payment in satisfaction of the contributions which he has so refused or neglected to pay.

(3) Proceedings under the foregoing provisions of this section shall not be instituted except by, or with the consent of, the Board of Trade, and may be commenced at any time within three months of the date at which the offence comes to the knowledge of the Board of Trade.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the Board of Trade from recovering any sums due to the unemployment fund by means of civil proceedings, and all such sums shall be recoverable in such proceedings as debts due to the Crown.

(5) If it is found at any time that a person has been in receipt of unemployment benefit under this Part of this Act whilst the statutory conditions were not fulfilled in his case, or whilst he was disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit, he shall be liable to repay to the unemployment fund any sums paid to him in respect of unemployment benefit whilst the statutory conditions were not fulfilled, or whilst he was disqualified for receiving the benefit, and the amount of such sums may be recovered as a debt due to the Crown.

(6) In any proceedings tinder this section, or in any pro ceedings involving any question as to the payment of contributions under this Part of this Act, or for the recovery of any sums due to the unemployment fund, the decision of the umpire appointed under this Part of this Act on any question arising, whether the trade in which the workman is or has been employed is an insured trade or not shall be conclusive for the purpose of those proceedings, and, if no such decision has been obtained and the decision of the question is necessary for the determination of the proceedings, the question shall be referred, in accordance with the regulations made under this Part of this Act, to the umpire for the purpose of obtaining such a decision.

If at any time after the expiration of seven years from the commencement of this Act it appears to the Board of Trade that the unemployment fund is insufficient or more than sufficient to discharge the liabilities imposed upon the fund under this Part of this Act, or that the rates of contribution are excessive or deficient as respects any particular insured trade, or any particular branch of any such trade, the Board may, with the sanction of the Treasury, by special order made in manner herein-after provided revise the rates of contribution of employers and workmen under this Part of this Act, and any such order may, if the Board think fit, prescribe different rates of contribution for different insured trades or branches thereof, and, where any such order is made, the rates prescribed by the order shall, as from such date as may be specified in the order, be substituted as respects trades or branches thereof to which it relates for the rates prescribed by this Act:

Provided that, where such a revision has been made, no further revision under this section shall be made before the expiration of seven years from the last revision, and that no order under this section shall increase the rates of contribution from employers or workmen by more than one penny per workman per week above the rates specified in the Eighth Schedule to this Act, or shall vary such rates unequally as between employers and workmen.

If it appears to the Board that it is desirable to extend the provisions of this Part of this Act to workmen in any trade other than an insured trade, or to vary the definition of “workman ” with respect to the age of the persons included therein, either generally or for any particular insured trade, or any particular branch of any such trade, the Board may, with the consent of the Treasury, make, in manner hereinafter provided, a special order extending this Part of this Act to such workmen or so varying the definition of “workman,” as the case may be, either without modification or subject to such modifications of rates of contribution or rates or periods of benefit as may be contained in the order, and, on any such order being made, this Part of this Act shall, subject to the modifications (if any) contained in the order, apply as if the trade mentioned in the order were an insured trade, or as if the definition of “workman” were varied in accordance with the order, as the case may be, and as if the rates of contribution and the rates and periods of benefit mentioned in the order were the rates of contribution and the rates and periods of benefit provided by this Part of this Act in respect of such trade:

Provided that no such order shall be made if the person holding the inquiry in relation to the order reports that the order should not be made, or if the order would, in the opinion of the Treasury, increase the contribution to the unemployment fund out of moneys provided by Parliament to a sum exceeding one million pounds a year before the expiration of three years from the making of the order, and that the rates of contributions mentioned in the order shall not exceed the rates specified in the Eighth Schedule to this Act, and shall be imposed equally as between employers and workmen.

The Board of Trade may, if in any case they consider Exclusion of that it is desirable, by special order exclude from the occupations which are to be deemed employment in an insured trade for the purpose of this Part of the Act—

(a) Any occupation which appears to them to be common to insured and uninsured trades alike, and ancillary only to the purposes of an insured trade; and

(b) Any occupation which appears to them to be an occupation in a business which, though concerned with the making of parts or the preparation of materials for use in connection with an insured trade, is mainly carried on as a separate business or in connection with trades other than insured trades;

and, on any such order being made, the occupation to which the order relates shall not be treated as employment in an insured trade for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

Any special order made under this section may be made so as to cover one or more occupations. The provisions of this Part of this Act as to the laying of regulations before Parliament and the presentation of an Address thereon shall apply to special orders made under this section.

105.—(1) The Board of Trade may, on the application of any association of workmen the rules of which provide for payments to its members, being workmen in an insured trade, or any class thereof, whilst unemployed, make an arrangement with such association that, in lieu of paying unemployment benefit under this Part of this Act to workmen who prove that members they are members of the association there shall be repaid periodically to the association out of the unemployment fund such sum as appears to be, as nearly as may be, equivalent to the aggregate amount which such workmen would have received during that period by way of unemployment benefit under this Part of this Act if no such arrangement had been made, but in no case exceeding three-fourths of the amount of the payments made during that period by the association to such workmen as aforesaid whilst unemployed.

(2) The council or other governing body of any association of workmen which has made such an arrangement as aforesaid shall be entitled to treat the contributions due from any of its members to the unemployment fund under this Part of this Act, or any part thereof, as if such contributions formed part of the subscriptions payable by those members to the association, and, notwithstanding anything in the rules of the association to the contrary, may reduce the rates of subscription of those members accordingly.

(3) For the purpose of determining whether a workman has exhausted his right to unemployment benefit under this Part of this Act, the amount of any sum which, but for this section, would have been paid to him by way of unemployment benefit shall be deemed to have been so paid.

(4) The Board of Trade may make regulations for giving effect to this section, and for referring to the umpire appointed under this Part of this Act any question which may arise under this section.

(5) The fact that persons other than workmen can be members of an association shall not prevent the association being treated as an association of workmen for the purposes of this section, if the association is substantially an association of workmen.

— (1) The Board of Trade may, with the consent of the Treasury, and on such conditions and either annually or at payments such other intervals as the Board may prescribe, repay out of moneys provided by Parliament to any association of persons not trading for profit the rules of which provide for payments to persons whilst unemployed, whether workmen in an insured trade or not, such part (in no case exceeding one-sixth) as they think fit, of the aggregate amount which the association has expended on such payments during the preceding year or other prescribed period, exclusive of the sum (if any) repaid to the association in respect of such period in pursuance of an arrangement under the last foregoing section, and exclusive, in the case of payments which exceed twelve shillings a week, of so much of those payments as exceeds that sum.

(2) No repayment shall be made under this section in respect of any period before the expiration of six months from the commencement of this Act.

(3) The Board of Trade may make regulations for giving effect to this section, and for determining the mode in which questions arising under this section shall be settled.

107.—(1) For the purposes of this Part of this Act—

The expression ” workman ” means any person of the age of sixteen or upwards employed wholly or mainly by way of manual labour, who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer, whether the contract is expressed or implied, is oral or in writing, and in relation to a person whilst unemployed means a person who, when employed, fulfilled the conditions aforesaid, but does not include an indentured apprentice;

Contributions made by an employer on behalf of a workman shall be deemed to be contributions by the workman;

Two periods of unemployment of not less than two days each, separated by a period of not more than two days, during which the workman has not been employed for more than twenty-four hours or two periods of unemployment of not less than one week each, separated by an interval of not more than six weeks, shall be treated as a continuous period of unemployment, and the expression “continuously unemployed” shall have a corresponding meaning;

Temporary work provided by a central body or distress committee under the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905 or towards the provision of which any such central body or distress committee has contributed under that Act, shall not be deemed to be employment in an insured trade;

A workman shall not be deemed to be unemployed whilst he is following any remunerative occupation in an insured trade, or whilst he is following any other occupation from which he derives any remuneration or profit greater than that which he would derive from the receipt of unemployment benefit under this Part of this Act;

A workman shall not, for the purposes of contributions, be deemed to be employed in any period in respect of which he receives no remuneration from his employer, notwithstanding that he continues during such period in his employment;

The expression “trade dispute” means any dispute between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment, or the terms of employment, or with the conditions of labour, of any persons, whether workmen in the employment of the employer with whom the dispute arises or not.

(2) In determining any question as to whether any trade in which a workman is or has been employed is an insured trade or not, regard shall be had to the nature of the work in which the workman is engaged rather than to the business of the employer by whom he is employed.

(3) This Part of this Act shall apply to workmen employed by or under the Crown to whom this Act would apply if the employer were a private person, except to such of those workmen as are serving in an established capacity in the permanent service of the Crown, subject, however, to such modifications as may be made therein by Order in Council for the purpose of adapting the provisions of this Part of this Act to the case of such workmen.

(4) If the Board of Trade are satisfied that any class of workmen are, having regard to their claim to pension or to the other terms of their service, in as permanent a position as that of persons serving in an established capacity in the permanent service of the Crown, the Board of Trade may exempt that class of persons from the provisions of this Part of this Act, and any persons so exempt shall not be deemed to be workmen.

Part III. General

(108) Stamps required for the purposes of this Act shall be prepared and issued in such manner as the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, with the consent of the Treasury, may direct, and the said Commissioners may, by regulations in accordance with the provisions of Part I. of this Act relating to regulations by the Insurance Commissioners, provide for applying, with the necessary adaptations, as respects such stamps, all or any of the provisions (including penal provisions) of the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891, as amended by any subsequent Act, and section sixty-five of the Post Office Act, 1908, and may with the consent of the Postmaster-General provide for the sale of such stamps through the Post Office.

(109) In granting outdoor relief to a person in receipt of or entitled to receive any benefit under this Act, a board of guardians shall not take into consideration any such benefit, except so far as such benefit exceeds five shillings a week.

110.—(1) There shall be included among the debts which, under section one of the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy Act, 1888, and section two hundred and nine of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, are, in the distribution of the property of a bankrupt and in the distribution of the assets of a company being wound up, to be paid in priority to all other debts, all contributions payable under this Act by the bankrupt or the company in respect of employed contributors or workmen in an insured trade during the four months before the date of the receiving order, or, as the case may be, the commencement of the winding up or the winding-up order, and those Acts shall have effect accordingly, and formal proof of the debts to which priority is given under this section shall not be required except in cases where it may otherwise be provided by rules made under the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, or the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908.

(2) In the case of the winding up of a company within the meaning of the Stannaries Act, 1887, such contributions as aforesaid shall, if payable in respect of a miner, have the like priority as is conferred on wages of miners by section nine of that Act, and that section shall have effect accordingly.

(3) This section shall not apply where a company is wound up voluntarily merely for the purposes of reconstruction or of amalgamation with another company.

(4) In the application of this section to Scotland, a reference to section three of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act, 1875, and the respective dates therein mentioned shall be substituted for the reference to section one of the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy Act, 1888, and the date of the receiving order ; and an Act of Sederunt under the Bankruptcy Amendment (Scotland) Act, 1856, shall be substituted for rules under the Bankruptcy Act, 1883.

(5) In the application of this section to Ireland a reference to section four of the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy (Ireland) Act, 1889, shall be substituted for the reference to section one of the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy Act, 1888; and a reference to general orders made under the first-mentioned Act shall be substituted for the reference to rules made under the Bankruptcy Act, 1883 ; and any reference to a bankrupt shall include a reference to an arranging debtor; and the reference to the receiving order shall be construed as a reference to the order of adjudication in the case of a bankrupt, or to the filing of the petition for arrangement in the case of an arranging debtor.

Every assignment of, or charge on, and every agreement Benefits to be to assign or charge, any of the benefits conferred by this Act inalienable, shall be void, and, on the bankruptcy of any person entitled to any such benefit, the benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors.

112.—(1) An inspector appointed under this Act shall, for powers of the purposes of the execution of this Act, have power to do all inspectors, or any of the following things, namely:—

(a) to enter at all reasonable times any premises or place, other than a private dwelling-house not being a workshop, where he has reasonable grounds for supposing that any employed contributors or workmen in an insured trade are employed;

(b) to make such examination and inquiry as may be necessary for ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act are complied with in any such premises or place;

(c) to examine, either alone or in the presence of any other person, as he thinks fit, with respect to any matters under this Act, every person whom he finds in any such premises or place, or whom he has reasonable cause to believe to be or to have been an employed contributor or workman in an insured trade, and to require every such person to be so examined, and to sign a declaration of the truth of the matters in respect of which he is so examined;

(d} to exercise such other powers as may be necessary for carrying this Act into effect.

(2) The occupier of any such premises or place and any other person employing any employed contributor or workman in an insured trade, and the servants and agents of any such occupier or other person, and any employed contributor or workman in an insured trade shall furnish to any inspector all such information and shall produce for inspection all such registers, books, cards, and other documents as the inspector may reasonably require.

(3) If any person wilfully delays or obstructs an inspector in the exercise of any power under this section or fails to give such information or to produce such documents as aforesaid, or conceals or prevents or attempts to conceal or prevent any person from appearing before or being examined by an inspector, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds:

Provided that no one shall be required under this section to answer any question or give any evidence tending to incriminate himself.

(4) Where any such premises or place are liable to be inspected by inspectors or other officers, or are under the control, of some other Government department, the Insurance Commissioners or Board of Trade may make arrangements with that other Government department for any of the powers and duties of inspectors under this section being carried out by inspectors or other officers of such other Government department, and, where such an arrangement is made, such inspectors and officers shall have all the powers of an inspector under this section.

(5) Every inspector shall be furnished with the prescribed certificate of his appointment, and on applying for admission to any premises for the purposes of this Act shall, if so required, produce the said certificate to the occupier.

— (1) Sections eighty and eighty-one of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, relating to the making of regulations under that Act, as set out and adapted in the Ninth Schedule to this Act, shall apply to special orders made under this Act.

(2) Before a special order (other than a special order excluding any occupation from the occupations which are to be deemed employment in an insured trade) comes into force, it shall be laid before each House of Parliament for a period of not less than thirty days during which the House is sitting, and, if either A.D. 1911. of those Houses before the expiration of those thirty days presents an Address to His Majesty against the order or any part thereof, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon, without prejudice to the making of any new order.

Where, for the purposes of this Act, the age of any person is required to be proved by the production of a certificate of birth, any person shall, on presenting a written requisition in such form and containing such particulars as may be from time to time prescribed by the Local Government Board for England, Scotland, or Ireland, as the case may be, and, on payment of a fee of sixpence, be entitled to obtain a certified copy of the entry of the birth of that person in the birth register, under the hand of the registrar or superintendent registrar having the custody thereof, and forms for such requisition shall on request be supplied without any charge by every registrar of births and deaths and by every superintendent registrar.
This Act may be cited as the National Insurance Act, 1911, and shall, save as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, come into operation on the fifteenth day of July nineteen hundred and twelve :

Provided that His Majesty in Council may, should necessity arise, substitute some subsequent date or dates not being later than the first day of January nineteen hundred and thirteen as respects the provisions of this Act relating to health insurance, and not being later than the first day of October nineteen hundred and twelve as respects the provisions of this Act relating to unemployment insurance.

SCHEDULES.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

Part I. Employments within the meaning of part I. of this act relating to Health Insurance.

(a) Employment in the United Kingdom under any contract of service or apprenticeship, written or oral, whether expressed or implied, and whether the employed person is paid by the employer or some other person, and whether under one or more employers, and whether paid by time or by the piece or partly by time and partly by the piece, or otherwise, or, except in the case of a contract of apprenticeship, without any money payment.

(b) Employment under such a contract as aforesaid as master or a member of the crew of any ship registered in the United Kingdom or of any other British ship or vessel of which the owner, or, if there is more than one owner, the managing owner or manager, resides or has his principal place of business in the United Kingdom.

(c) Employment as an outworker (that is to say, a person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished, or repaired, or adapted for sale in his own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or materials for the purposes of the trade or business of the last-mentioned person), unless excluded by a special order made by the Insurance Commissioners, and any such order may exclude outworkers engaged in work of any class, or outworkers of any class or description specified in the order, or may defer the commencement of this Act as respects all outworkers, and the person who gave out the articles or materials shall, in relation to the person to whom he gave them out, be deemed to be the employer.

(d) Employment in the United Kingdom in plying for hire with any vehicle or vessel the use of which is obtained from the owner thereof under any contract of bailment (or in Scotland any contract of letting to hire) in consideration of the payment of a fixed sum or a share in the earnings or otherwise, in which case the owner shall, for the purposes of Part I. of this Act, be deemed to be the employer.

Part II. Exceptions.

(a) Employment in the naval or military service of the Crown, including service in Officers’ Training Corps, except as otherwise provided in Part I. of this Act.

(b) Employment under the Crown or any local or other public authority where the Insurauce Commissioners certify that the terms of the employment are such as to secure provision in respect of sickness and disablement on the whole not less favourable than the corresponding benefits conferred by Part I. of this Act.

(c) Employment as a clerk or other salaried official in the service of a railway or other statutory company, or of a joint committee of two or more such companies, where the Insurance Commissioners certify that the terms of employment, including his rights in such superannuation fund as is herein-after mentioned, are such as to secure provision in respect of sickness and disablement, on the whole, not less favourable than the corresponding benefits conferred by Part I. of this Act, and the person so employed is entitled to rights in a superannuation fund established by Act of Parliament for the benefit of persons in such employment, or in Ireland is entitled to rights in any such superannuation fund or in any railway superannuation fund which may be approved by the Insurance Commissioners.

(d) Employment as a teacher to whom the Elementary School Teachers Superannuation Act, 1898, or a scheme under section fourteen of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, or the National School Teachers (Ireland) Act, 1879, applies, or, in the event of any similar enactment being hereafter passed as respects teachers or any class of teachers (other than teachers in public elementary schools), as a teacher to whom such enactment applies.

(e) Employment as an agent paid by commission or fees or a share in the profits, or partly in one and partly in another such ways, where the person so employed is mainly dependent for his livelihood on his earnings from some other occupation, or where he is ordinarily employed as such agent by more than one employer, and his employment under no one of such employers is that on which he is mainly dependent for his livelihood.

(f) Employment in respect of which uo wages or other money payment is made where the employer is the occupier of an agricultural holding and the employed person is employed thereon, or where the person employed is the child of, or is maintained by, the employer.

(g) Employment otherwise than by way of manual labour and at a rate of remuneration exceeding in value one hundred and sixty pounds a year, or in cases where such employment involves part-time service only, at a rate of remuneration which in the opinion of the Insurance Commissioners, is equivalent to a rate of remuneration exceeding one hundred and sixty pounds a year for whole-time service.

(h) Employment of a casual nature otherwise than for the purposes of the employer’s trade or business, and otherwise than for the purposes of any game or recreation where the persons employed are engaged or paid through a club, and in such case the club shall be deemed to be the employer.

(i) Employment of any class which may be specified in a special order as being of such a nature that it is ordinarily adopted as subsidiary employment only and not as the principal means of livelihood.

(j) Employment as an outworker where the person so employed is the wife of an insured person and is not wholly or mainly dependent for her livelihood on her earnings in such employment.

(k) Employment as a member of the crew of a fishing vessel where the members of such crew are remunerated by shares in the profits or the gross earnings of the working of such vessel in accordance with any custom or practice prevailing at any port if a special order is made for the purpose by the Insurance Commissioners, and the particular custom or practice prevailing at the port is one to which the order applies.

(l) Employment in the service of the husband or wife of the employed person.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Rates of contribution under part I. of this act relating to Health Insurance

Part I

Employed Rate.

In the case of men 7d. a week.

In the case of women 6d a week

Contributions by Employers and Employed Contributors.

To be paid by the employer – 3d. a week.

To be paid by the contributor – Men, 4d, Women, 3d

In the case of employed contributors of either sex of the age of 21 or upwards whose remuneration does not include the provision of board and lodging by their employer, and the rate of whose remuneration does not exceed 2s.&6d. a working day, the following shall be the rates of contribution :—

Where the rate of remuneration does not exceed 1s. 6d. a working day—

To be paid by the employer a week – For men, 6d, for women 5d

To be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament – – 1d.

Where the rate of remuneration exceeds 1s. 6d. but does not exceed 2s. a working day—

To be paid by the employer a week – , For men, 5d, for women 4d

T o be paid by the contributor 1d

To be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament – – 1d.

Where the rate of remuneration exceeds 2s. but does not exceed 2s. 6d. a working day—

To be paid by the employer a week – For men, 4d, for women 3d

To be paid by the contributor 3d

Part II

Employed Rate in Ireland.

In the case of men -5 1/2 d a week.

In the case of women – 4 1/2d a week

Contributions by Employers and Employed Contributors.

To be paid by the employer – 2 1/2d. a week.

To be paid by the contributor Men, 3d., Women, 2d.

In the case of employed contributors of either sex of the age of 21 or upwards whose remuneration does not include the provision of board and lodging by their employer, and the rate of whose remuneration does not exceed 2s. 6d. a working day, the following shall be the rates of contribution :—

Where the rate of remuneration does not exceed 1s. 6d. a working day

To be paid by the employer a week – For men, 4 1/2d, for women 3 1/2d

To be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament – – 1d.

Where the rate of remuneration exceeds Is. 6d. but does not exceed 2s. a working day—

To be paid by the employer a week – For men, 4d, for women 3d

To be paid by the contributor 1/2d

To be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament – – 1d.

Where the rate of remuneration exceeds 2s. but does not exceed 2s. 6d. a working day—

To be paid by the employer a week. -For men, 3 1/2d, for women 2 1/2d

To be paid by the contributor 2d

THIRD SCHEDULE

Rules as to payment and recovery of contributions paid by employers on behalf of employed contributors under part I. of this act relating to health insurance.

(1)A weekly contribution shall be payable for each calendar week during the whole or any part of which an employed contributor has been employed by an employer: Provided that, where one weekly contribution has been paid in respect of an employed contributor in any such week, no further contribution shall be payable in respect of him in the same week, and that, where no remuneration has been received and no services rendered by an employed contributor during any such week, or where no services have been rendered by an employed contributor during any such week and the employed contributor has been in receipt of sickness or disablement benefit during the whole or any part of that week, the employer shall not be liable to pay any contribution either on his own behalf or on behalf of the contributor in respect of that week.

(2) The employer shall, except as hereinafter provided, be entitled to recover from the employed contributor the amount of any contributions paid by him on behalf of the employed contributor.

(3) Except where the employed contributor does not receive any wages or other pecuniary remuneration from the employer, the amounts so recoverable shall, notwithstanding the provisions of any Act or any contract to the contrary, be recoverable by means of deductions from the wages or other remuneration, and not otherwise ; but no such deductions may be made from any wages or remuneration other than such as are paid in respect of the period or part of the period in respect of which the contribution is payable, or in excess of the sum which represents the amount of the contributions for the period (if such period is longer than a week) in respect of which the wages or other remuneration are paid.

(4) Where a contribution paid by the employer on behalf of an employed contributor is recoverable from the contributor but is not recoverable by means of deductions as aforesaid, it shall (without prejudice to any other means of recovery) be recoverable summarily as a civil debt, but no such contribution shall be recoverable unless proceedings for the purpose are instituted within three months from the date when the contribution was payable.

(5) Where the contributor is employed by more than one employer in any calender week, the first person employing him in that week or such other employer or employers as may be prescribed shall be deemed to be the employer for the purposes of the provisions of Part I. of this Act relating to the payment of contributions and of this schedule.

(6) Regulations of the Insurance Commissioners may provide that in any cases or any classes of cases where employed contributors work under the general control and management of some person other than their immediate employer, such as the owner, agent, or manager of a mine or quarry, or the occupier of a factory or workshop, such person shall, for the purposes of the provisions of Part I. of this Act relating to the payment of contributions and of this schedule, be treated as the employer, and may provide for allowing him to deduct the amount of any contributions (other than employer’s contributions) which he may become liable to pay from any sums payable by him to the immediate employer, and for enabling the immediate employer to recover from the employed contributors the like sums and in the like manner as if he were liable to pay the contributions.

(7) Where the contributor is not paid wages or other money payments by his employer or any other person, the employer shall be liable to pay the contributions payable both by himself and the contributor, and shall not be entitled to recover any part thereof from the contributor

(8) Notwithstanding any conlract to the contrary, the employer shall not be entitled to deduct from the wages of or otherwise to recover from the contributor the employer’s contribution.

(9) Any sum deducted by any employer from wages or other remuneration under this schedule shall be deemed to have been entrusted to him for the purpose of paying the contribution in respect of which it was deducted.

(10) The Insurance Commissioners may, by regulations, provide that in the case of outworkers the contributions to be paid may be determined by reference to the work actually done, instead of by reference to the weeks in which work is done, and any such regulations may apply to all trades or to any specified classes or branches of trades, and may determine the conditions to be complied with by employers who adopt such a system of payment of contributions.

(11) For the purposes of this schedule the expression “calendar week ” means the period from midnight on one Sunday to midnight on the following Sunday.

FOURTH SCHEDULE.

Benefits under part I. of this act relating to health insurance.

Part 1.Rates of Benefits.

Table A.—Ordinary Rates.

Sickness benefit: for men, the sum of 10s. a week throughout the whole period of twenty-six weeks ; for women, the sum of 7s. 6d. a week throughout the whole period of twenty-six weeks.

Disablement benefit : the sum of 5s. a week for men and women alike.

Table B.—Reduced Rales in the case of Unmarried Minors.

Sickness benefit—for males, the sum of 6s. a week during the first thirteen weeks and the sum of 5s. a week during the second thirteen weeks.

for females, the sum of 5s. a week for the first thirteen weeks and the sum of 4s. a week for the second thirteen weeks.

Disablement benefit—for females, the sum of 4s. a week.

Table C.—Reduced Rates for Persons over Fifty in certain cases.

Where the insured person is over 50 and under 60 at the time of becoming an employed contributor —

For men, the sum of 7s. a week throughout the whole period of twenty-six weeks.

For women, the sum of 6s. a week throughout the whole period of twenty-six weeks.

Where the insured person is over 60 at the time of becoming an employed contributor—For both men and women, the sum of 6s. a week for the first thirteen weeks, and 5s. a week during the second thirteen weeks.

Table D.-—Rates and Conditions for Married Women.

Sickness benefit : during the first thirteen weeks, the sum of 5s. a week ; during the second thirteen weeks, 3s. a week.

Disablement benefit : the sum of 3s. a week.

Sickness benefit and disablement benefit shall not be payable during the two weeks before and four weeks after confinement, except in respect of a disease or disablement neither directly nor indirectly connected with childbirth.

Part II. Additional Benefits.

(1) Medical treatment and attendance for any persons dependent upon the labour of a member.

(2)The payment of the whole or any part of the cost of dental treatment.

(3) An increase of sickness benefit or disablement benefit in the case either of all members of the society or of such of them as have any children or any specified number of children wholly or in part dependent upon them.

(4) Payment of sickness benefit from the first, second, or third day after the commencement of the disease or disablement.

(5) The payment of a disablement allowance to members though not totally incapable of work.

(6)An increase of maternity benefit.

(7)Allowances to a member during convalescence from some disease or disablement in respect of which sickness benefit or disablement benefit has been payable.

(8) The building or leasing of premises suitable for convalescent homes and the maintenance of such homes.

(9) The payment of pensions or superannuation allowances whether by way of addition to old age pensions under the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908, or otherwise.

(10) The payment, subject to the prescribed conditions, of contributions to superannuation funds in which the members are interested.

(11) Payments to members who are in want or distress including the remission of arrears whenever such arrears may have become due.

(12) Payments for the personal use of a member who, by reason of being an inmate of a hospital or other institution, is not in receipt of sickness benefit or disablement benefit.

(13) Payments to members not allowed to attend work on account of infection.

(14) Repayment of the whole or any part of contributions thereafter payable under Part I. of this Act by members of the society or any class thereof.

Part III.

Benefits for Married Women who do not become Voluntary Contributors at reduced Rates.

Payment of the sum of 5s. a week on confinement during a period not exceeding four weeks on any one occasion.

Payments during any period of sickness or distress, subject to regulations made by the Insurance Commissioners and to the discretion of the society or committee administering the benefit.

FIFTH SCHEDULE.

Reduction or postponement of sickness benefit and where contributions are in arrear.

Table.

1	2
Where the arrears amount to	Rates of Sickness Benefit
Where the arrears amount to	Men	Women
	s d	s d
4 contributions a year on average	9/6	7/3
5 “	9/0	7/0
6 “	8/6	6/9
7 “	8/0	6/6
8 “	7/6	6/3
9 “	7/0	6/0
10 “	6/6	5/9
11 “	6/0	5/6
12 “	5/6	5/3
13 “	5/0	5/0
For both Men and Women	5/0d commencing 5th day after commencement of illness
	” ” 6th ” “
	” ” 7th ” “
	” ” 8th ” “
	” ” 9th ” “
	” ” 10th ” “
	” ” 11th ” “
	” ” 12th ” “
	” ” 13th ” “
	” ” 14th ” “

Notes.

Where the insured person is, by virtue of any of the provisions of Part I. of this Act, other than those relating to arrears, entitled to sickness benefit at a rate lower than the full rate, this Table shall have effect as if the entries in the first column were so shifted down that the first entry therein was set opposite the entry in the second column next below the entry specifying the rate of sickness benefit to which the insured person is entitled. When the rate of sickness benefit during the first thirteen weeks to which the insured person is entitled is, by virtue of any of the provisions of this Act, other than those relating to arrears, less than 5s. a week, this Table shall have effect as if such lower rate were therein substituted for the rate of 5s. a week.

SIXTH SCHEDULE

List of insured trades for the purposes of part II. of this Act relating to Unemployment Insurance

(1)Building; that is to say, the construction, alteration, repair, decoration, or demolition of buildings, including the manufacture of any fittings of wood of a kind commonly made in builders’ workshops or yards.

(2) Construction of works; that is to say, the construction, reconstruction, or alteration of railroads, docks, harbours, canals, embankments, bridges, piers or other works of construction.

(3) Shipbuilding; that is to say, the construction, alteration, repair or decoration of ships, boats or other craft by persons not being usually members of a ship’s crew, including the manufacture of any fittings of wood of a kind commonly made in a shipbuilding yard.

(4) Mechanical engineering, including the manufacture of ordnance and firearms.

(5) Ironfounding, whether included under the foregoing headings or not.

(6) Construction of vehicles ; that is to say, the construction, repair, or decoration of vehicles.

(7) Sawmilling (including machine woodwork) carried on in connection with any other insured trade or of a kind commonly so carried on.

SEVENTH SCHEDULE.

Rates and periods of unemployment benefit.

In respect of each week following the first week of any period of unemployment, seven shillings, or such other rates as may be prescribed either generally or for any particular trade or any branch thereof:

Provided that, in the case of a workman under the age of eighteen, no unemployment benefit shall be paid while the workman is below the age of seventeen, and while the workman is of the age of seventeen or upwards but below the age of eighteen, unemployment benefit shall only be paid at half the rale at which it would be payable if the workman was above the age of eighteen.

No workman shall receive unemployment benefit for more than fifteen or such other number of weeks as may be prescribed either generally or for any particular trade or branch thereof within any period of twelve months, or in respect of any period less than one day.

No workman shall receive more unemployment benefit than in the proportion of one week’s benefit for every five contributions paid by him under this Act:

Provided that for the purpose of the foregoing paragraph—

(a) in the case of a workman who satisfies the Board of Trade that he is over the age of twenty-one and has habitually worked at an insured trade before the commencement of this Act, there shall be deemed to be added to the numberof contributions which he has actually paid five contributions for each period of three months or part of such period during which he has so worked before the commencement of this Act, up to a maximum of twenty-five contributions ; and

(b) where, owing to the fact that the wages or other remuneration of a workman are paid at intervals greater than a week, or for any other like reason contributions are paid under Part II. of this Act in respect of any workman at intervals greater than a week, that workman shall be entitled to treat each of such contributions as so many contributions as there are weeks in the period for which the contribution has been paid. Any time during which a workman is, under Part II. of this Act, disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit shall be excluded in the computation of periods of unemployment under this schedule.

A period of unemployment shall not be deemed to commence till the workman has made application for unemployment benefit in such manner as may be prescribed.

The power conferred by this schedule on the Board of Trade to prescribe rates and periods of unemployment benefit shall not be exercised so at. to increase the rate of benefit above eight shillings per week or reduce it below six shillings per week, or to increase the period of unemployment benefit above fifteen weeks, or to alter the proportion which the period of benefit bears to the number of contributions paid, except by rules confirmed by an order made in accordance with the provisions of this Act relating to special orders.

EIGHTH SCHEDULE.

Contributions for the purposes of part II. of this act relating to Unemployment Insurance.

Rates of contribution from workmen and employers.

From every workman employed in an insured trade for every week he is so employed – 2 1/2d.

From every employer by whom one or more workmen are employed in an insured trade, in respect of each workman, for every week he is so employed – 2 1/2d

Provided that, in the case of a workman below the age of eighteen, 1d. shall be substituted for 2 1/2d. as the contribution from the workman and from the employer, but, for the purpose of reckoning the number of contributions in respect of such a workman except as regards the payment of unemployment benefit before he reaches the age of eighteen, the 1d. shall be treated as two-fifths of a contribution.

Every such period of employment of less than a week shall, for the purposes of this schedule, be treated as if it were employment for a whole week, except that, where the period of employment is two days or less, the contributions both of the employer and of the workman shall be reduced to one penny if the period does not exceed one day and to twopence if it exceeds one day; and, in such case, in reckoning the number of contributions under Part II. of this Act and the schedules therein referred to, contributions at such reduced rates shall be treated as two-fifths or four-fifths of a contribution as the case may require.

NINTH SCHEDULE

Provisions of the Factory and Workshop act, 1901, applied to special orders made under this act.

80.—(1) Before the authority empowered to make special orders make any special order under this Act, they shall publish, in such manner as they may think best adapted for informing persons affected, notice of the proposal to make the order, and of the place where copies of the draft order may be obtained, and of the time (which shall be not less than twenty-one days) within which any objection made with respect to the draft order by or on behalf of persons affected must be sent to the authority.

(2) Every objection must be in writing and state—

(a) the draft order or portions of draft order objected to ;

(b) the specific grounds of objection ; and

2) The authority shall consider any objection made by or on behalf of any persons appearing to them to be affected which is sent to them within the required time, and they may, if they think fit, amend the draft order, and shall then cause the amended draft to be dealt with in like manner as an original draft.

3) Where the authority do not amend or withdraw any draft order to which any objection has been made, then (unless the objection either is withdrawn or appears to them to be frivolous) they shall, before making the order, direct an inquiry to be held in the manner hereinafter provided.

81.—(1) The authority may appoint a competent and impartial person to hold an inquiry with regard to any draft order, and to report to them thereon.

(2) The inquiry shall be held in public, and any objector and any other person who, in the opinion of the person holding the inquiry, is affected by the draft order, may appear at the inquiry either in person or by counsel, solicitor, or agent.

(3) The witnesses on the inquiry may, if the person holding it thinks fit, be examined on oath.

(4) Subject as aforesaid, the inquiry and all proceedings preliminary and incidental thereto shall be conducted in accordance with rules made by the authority.

(5) The fee to be paid to the person holding the inquiry shall be such as the authority may direct and shall be deemed to be part of the expenses of the authority in carrying this Act into effect.

(6) For the purposes of this schedule, the expression “authority” means the Insurance Commissioners or the Board of Trade, as the case may be.

Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Ltd., for Rowland Bailey, Esq., C.B., M.V.O., the King’s Printer of Acts of Parliament.

Part I. National health insurance.

Insured Persons.

Contributions.

Benefits.

Approved Societies.

Membership of Approved Societies and Transfer of Members.

Deposit Insurance

Financial Provisions.

Insurance Commissioners: Advisory Committee.

Excessive Sickness.

Supplementary Provisions.

Part II Unemployment Insurance.

Part III. General

Schedules.

Part I. National Health Insurance.

Insured Persons.

Contributions.

Benefits.

Administration of Benefits.

Approved Societies.

Membership of Approved Societies and Transfer of Members.

Accounts : Valuations: Surplus and Deficit

Deposit Insurance.

Provisions as to Special Classes of Insured Persons.

Financial Provisions.

Insurance Commissioners: Advisory Committee.

Insurance Committees

Excessive Sickness.

Supplementary Provisions.

Part II. Unemployment Insurance.

Part III. General

SCHEDULES.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

Part I. Employments within the meaning of part I. of this act relating to Health Insurance.

Part II. Exceptions.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Part I

Part II

THIRD SCHEDULE

FOURTH SCHEDULE.

Part 1.Rates of Benefits.

Part III.

FIFTH SCHEDULE.

SIXTH SCHEDULE

SEVENTH SCHEDULE.

EIGHTH SCHEDULE.

NINTH SCHEDULE

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