National Insurance Act, 1911 : handbook to the administration of sickness and maternity benefits by approved societies.

Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: National Insurance Act, 1911 : handbook to the administration of sickness and maternity benefits by approved societies. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    31/82 (page 29)
    (111.) There is only one case in which the maternity benefit is less than 305. That is in the case of aliens, who receive maternity benefit at a rate appropriate to their age at the date of joining the Society, as shown in Table G of the Appendix. (112.) Under the Midwives Act, 1902, no unqualified person may ‘‘habitually and for gain” attend a woman in childbirth, except under the direction of a doctor, and accordingly no such unqualified person may receive payment out of the maternity benefit. But a member would not be liable to any penalty or loss of benefit if the confinement had been attended by a neighbour or by a medical student where there was no ground for supposing any abuse or malpractice of the kind against which the above provision of the Midwives Act is directed. (For a fuller discus- sion of this point see page 65.) CHAPTER IV.—HOW TO DEAL WITH CLAIMS FOR BENEFIT. Receiving the Claim. (113.) Ordinarily, the first efiective intimation of a claim for benefit will be the receipt of a proper “ Declaring-on Uote ” as required by the Society’s Rules. Societies should make their own arrangements to secure that every member shall be able to obtain without delay the proper form for declaring-on as soon as he falls ill. This may be done, e.g., by notifying every member (by means of a slip inserted in his insurance book, or otherwise), as to the person from whom, when occasion arises, such forms can be obtained. (114.) When the Declaring-on l^ote, properly completed, has been received, the claim has to be investigated by the combined use of the Membership Register, the Contribution Register, and, after the first sickness, the Sickness Benefit Register. Members must always send tbeir insurance books when claiming benefit and the particulars of the benefit must be entered up and the book returned to the member at the end of the illness. (115.) When you receive a claim for benefit, and have satisfied yourself that it is in order, you should turn to your registers. First you should look at the Contribution Register and find out if the man has been insured for 26 weeks, and if he has paid 26 weekly contributions. If he has not been insured for 26 w eeks he must be informed that he is not entitled to benefit, and that, if his illness continues so long, he must put in a new claim when he is qualified. If he has completed the 26 weeks but the Con- tribution Register does not show that 26 contributions have been paid, you should examine his current contribution card to see if the necessary number of contributions has been completed during the quarter. If it has not, the member may if he is claim- ing sickness benefit^ pay outstanding contributions on an arrears card.t Ilext you turn to your Membership Register, ^ In the case of maternity benefit, the 26 contributions must have been naid before the child was born. f For the position of a Voluntary Contributor in arrears at the date of a claim see page 73. The one case in which Maternity Benefit is reduced— Aliens. The Declaring-on Note. The import- ance of the Membership and Contribution Registers. How to use the Registers.