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National Insurance Act (Part 1) 1911

The successes of this were:

• provided compulsory health insurance for workers earning under £160 per year
• paid 4 pence, the employer paid 3 pence and the state paid 2 pence - to provide sickness benefit of 9 shillings
• if ill, was paid 10 shillings (for up to 13 weeks) then 5 shillings (for an additional 13 weeks)
• was offered free medical treatment
• was offered 30 shillings for maternity benefit

The limitations of this were:

• after 26 weeks' absence from work, benefits were lost and the Poor Law had to provide for the worker
• there was no provision for the worker’s family
• many found that the contributions actually made poverty worse as they were paid less