The people's insurance / explained by the chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. David Lloyd George.

  • Lloyd George, David, 1863-1945.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The people's insurance / explained by the chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. David Lloyd George. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Men Over 50 The only difference we make is with regard to men over fifty. We then propose to pay them reduced benefits. Men Over 65 Men who are over sixty-five at the present moment we do not propose should join the scheme at all, because that is an impossible undertaking; the burden would be much too heavy, and, after all, we must be fair to the man who comes in young with his money. He must be encouraged, he must get his reward for it, and if we take over too heavy a burden in the way of those who are at present very old, the young people will suffer. I am told that is the criticism in Germany, that the young people do not get full value for their own money and the money of their employers. We propose to admit everyone up to sixty-five to insurance so long as it is done within twelve months after the passing of the Act. We are going to give twelve months' grace. If they come in after twelve months they will come in on the terms either of paying a rate appropriate to their age or of taking reduced benefits, which comes to practically the same thing, Mr. Balfour : Would not they come in at sixteen? Men who come in at 16 and after 16 Mr. Lloyd George : A man may only start work at twenty-five, and if he comes in after the first twelve months he has to pay a rate appro- priate to his age or to take reduced benefits for his life. There will not be very many such cases. The right hon. Gentleman is perfectly right: the rule would be that everybody would come in at sixteen, but there may be people who come in after sixteen. In that case they will pay according to age or take reduced benefits. We make a certain exception about sixteen, be- cause if a man has been training at a technical college, for instance, or in some other way he is usefully em- ployed in training himself for life, then we do not insist upon sixteen as a rigid limit. So much for the contribution by the employee. The Employer's Contribution Now we come to the contribution of the employer. What interest has the employer in the matter? His interest is the efficiency of his workmen, and there is no doubt at all that a great insurance scheme of this kind removes a great strain of pressing burden and anxiety from the shoulders of the work- ing classes, and increases the efficiency of the workmen enormously. Work- ing men have told me that many a time they have gone on working at their business because they dared not give it up, as they could not afford to, though they ought to have been in the doctor's hands. This procedure generally brings about a very bad breakdown, and not only that, when a man is below par neither the quantity nor the quality of his work is very good. German Employers' Experience of Insurance I have taken the trouble to make some inquiry from the German em- ployers as to their experience of insur- ance from this point of view, and I have got a number of answers which, perhaps, later on the House would be interested in having circulated. Here