National Health Insurance Act 1920

1 Provisions as to contributions.

(1) The contributions payable under the Act of 1911 in respect of employed contributors shall be at the rates set out in the First Schedule to this Act, instead of at the rates specified in the Second Schedule to the Act of 1911, and references in any enactment to the said Second Schedule or to Part I. or Part II. of that Schedule shall be construed as references to the First Schedule to this Act or to Part I. or Part II. of that Schedule respectively.

(2) The proviso to subsection (1) of section four of the Act of 1911 (which provides for the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of part of the contributions payable in respect of low-wage earners) shall cease to have effect.

(3) Section ten of the Act of 1918 , (which relates to the rate of the employer's contribution in the case of an employee holding a certificate of exemption), shall have effect as though fivepence and fourpence were therein substituted for threepence and twopence halfpenny respectively.

(4) The provisions of section three of the Act of 1911, (which prescribes the proportions in which the funds for providing benefits and defraying expenses of administration are to be derived from contributions and from moneys provided by Parliament) shall have effect as though the words ‘or in the case of women three-fourths’ and the words ‘or in the case of women one-quarter’ were omitted therefrom.

(5) The provisions of paragraphs (b ) and (c ) of subsection (1) of section twenty-four of the Act of 1918 (which provides for deductions from the pay of seamen, marines, and soldiers, on account of contributions paid in respect of them) shall cease to have effect.

2 Rates of sickness, disablement, and maternity benefits.

(1) The ordinary rate of sickness benefit shall be in the case of a man the sum of fifteen shillings a week, and in the case of a woman the sum of twelve shillings a week, throughout the whole period of twenty-six weeks, and the rate of disablement benefit shall be a sum of seven shillings and sixpence a week for men and women alike.

(2) The amount of maternity benefit shall be a sum of forty shillings instead of a sum of thirty shillings.

In the foregoing provision the expression ‘maternity benefit’ includes maternity benefit payable under the provisions of subsection (1) of section twenty-two of the Act of 1918.

(3) Subsection (1) of section twelve of the Act of 1918 (which provides for reduced rates of sickness benefit in certain cases) shall have effect as if nine shillings and seven shillings and sixpence were therein substituted for six shillings and five shillings respectively.

(4) Every scheme in force under section seventy-two of the Act of 1911 shall continue to have effect as if the rates of benefit had not been altered by this section, and no such scheme shall be amended so as to provide for any benefit provided by the society being reduced by an amount greater than the amount of the similar benefit under the Act of 1911 at the rate in force before the commencement of this Act.

3 Power of Minister to withdraw certificates and determine schemes.

(1) Where it appears to the Minister that, by reason of the increase in the rates of sickness and disablement benefits for which provision is made by this Act, the terms of any employment as respects which a certificate has been given under paragraph (b ) or paragraph (c ) of Part II. of the First Schedule to the Act of 1911 are no longer 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 that Act, the Minister may by order withdraw the certificate, and where any such certificate is so withdrawn the employment shall cease to be an excepted employment.

(2) Where the Minister is satisfied as regards any scheme which has been confirmed under section thirteen of the Act of 1911 that, by reason of the increase in the rates of sickness benefit and disablement benefit for which provision is made by this Act, the value of the benefits conferred by the scheme is no longer equivalent to the value of the benefits for which they are substituted, the Minister may by order revoke the scheme.

(3) An order under this section shall specify the date as from which the certificate is to be withdrawn or the scheme is to be revoked, as the case may be, and may contain such other provisions as appear to the Minister necessary or expedient for giving effect to the order.

(4) The withdrawal of a certificate or the revocation of a scheme under this section shall be without prejudice to the power of the Minister to grant a new certificate or to confirm a new scheme.

4 Sanatorium benefit discontinued except in Ireland.

(1) Sanatorium benefit shall, except as regards Ireland, cease to be included among the benefits conferred by Part I. of the Act of 1911.

(2) The Minister may, in connection with the discontinuance of sanatorium benefit, make provision by regulations—

(a ) for the manner in which any surplus standing to the credit of the Sanatorium Benefit Fund of any insurance committee, after all liabilities in respect of the expenses of sanatorium benefit have been met, is to be disposed of, and in which any deficit in the Sanatorium Benefit Fund of any such insurance committee is to be met, and for making such other financial adjustments as appear necessary for carrying this section into effect; and

(b ) for determining any agreements entered into by insurance committees under any enactment relating to sanatorium benefit which is repealed by this Act or for transferring to other persons, on such conditions as may be prescribed, any rights or liabilities under any such agreements; and

(c ) with respect to the disposal by insurance committees of any registers, records or other documents in their possession relating to the administration of sanatorium benefit or to persons who have been in receipt of sanatorium benefit.

(3) The expression ‘medical treatment and attendance’ in paragraph (a ) of subsection (1) of section eight of the Act of 1911 includes treatment and attendance in respect of tuberculosis.

(4) Subsection (3) of section twenty-four of the Act of 1918, (which relates to the sanatorium benefit of persons in the Naval and Military service of the Crown), shall cease to have effect.

5 Amendment of financial provisions.

(1) The sum to be retained by the Minister under subsection (3) of section fifty-five of the Act of 1911 out of each weekly contribution shall, in the case of an insured person being a man, be twopence and one-third of a penny instead of one penny and five-ninths of a penny, and, in the case of an insured person being a woman, be one penny and eleven-twelfths of a penny instead of one penny and one-sixth of a penny.

(2) The amounts to be carried to the Contingencies Fund and the Central Fund under subsection (2) of section one of the Act of 1918 shall be calculated as if in the First Schedule to that Act the words ‘in the case of men two-thirds of a penny and in the case of women one half-penny’ were substituted for the words ‘in the case of men four-ninths and in the case of women three-ninths of a penny.’

(3) Ten shillings shall be substituted for eight shillings as the maximum amount which may, under subsection (2) of section two of the Act of 1918, be charged on the Women's Equalisation Fund in respect of each married woman.

(4) The amount which the Minister under the regulations made in pursuance of paragraph (b ) of subsection (1) of section fifty-six of the Act of 1911 is to be required to pay over to a society for investment or to retain on behalf of a society for investment shall in all cases be one-half of the sum carried to the credit of the society in the investment account.

6 Amendment of subsection \(1) of section 10 of National Insurance Act, 1913.

6. Two hundred and fifty pounds shall be substituted for one hundred and sixty pounds in subsection (1) of section ten of the ^{National Insurance Act, 1913}, which relates to the medical benefit of voluntary contributors.

7 Provision for cost of medical benefit and for administration expenses of insurance committees.

(1) Subsection (6) of section fifteen of the Act of 1911, (which makes provision for the payment to insurance committees by approved societies of sums in respect of medical benefit and the cost of administration thereof), shall cease to have effect, and subject to the provisions of this section there shall be paid in each year to insurance committees in Great Britain out of the funds out of which benefits are payable under Part I. of the Act of 1911, on account of the cost of medical benefit a sum of nine shillings and sixpence, and on account of the administration expenses of those committees such sum not exceeding fourpence as may be prescribed in respect of each of the total number (calculated in the prescribed manner) of the persons who are entitled to medical benefit as being or having been members of an approved society.

(2) Payments under this section shall be made in accordance with regulations to be made under subsection (1) of section fifty-six of the...