Britain: An official handbook > 1956

SOCIAL WELFARE
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2. If benefit is being received at the 100 per cent rate and someone is needed to
look after the insured person, a constant attendance allowance not exceed¬
ing 30s. a week (60s. in certain cases) may be paid.
3. If the insured person is permanently unfit for work an unemployability
supplement of 40s. a week may be paid, with allowances for dependants.
4. If the insured person is unfit to return to his former job, or work of a
similar standard, benefit may be increased (subject to a maximum of
67s. 6d.) by a special hardship allowance of up to 27s. 6d. a week.
Death Benefit
If the accident or disease results in the insured person’s death, Death Benefit is
paid to the dependants. The amount varies according to the degree of relationship
and the extent of maintenance during lifetime.
A widow receives a pension of 55s. a week for the first 13 weeks. Thereafter
she gets a pension of 45 s. a week if she is over 50 or permanently incapable of self-
support or has the care of a child of the dead man. In other cases the pension is 20s.
a week. In addition, an allowance of 1 is. 6d. can be paid for the first or only child,
and 3s. 6d. for each other child under the family allowances’ age limits (see
p. 322).
Certain other dependants, such as parents, are entitled to pensions, allowances or
gratuities. The amounts vary with the closeness of the relationship and the extent
to which they were maintained by the deceased during his lifetime.
Adjudication
Claims for benefit under the National Insurance and National Insurance (Indus¬
trial Injuries) Acts are not decided by the Ministry but by independent authorities
appointed under the Acts.
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE AND CARE OF CHILDREN
The National Assistance Act, 1948, also came into operation on 5th July 1948. It
provides a unified State service of financial assistance for those in need, replacing
the various ‘needs’ services provided in the past by the State and local authorities.
As the residual service, National Assistance meets the financial needs of all those
people who are unable to maintain themselves and who fall outside the scope of the
other social security services, and supplements the insurance benefits when they
are insufficient.
The National Assistance Board is responsible for administering these weekly
cash grants. It has various other duties, including the administration of non¬
contributory pensions under the Old Age Pensions Act, 1936 (still payable on a
means and residence test to a diminishing number of persons over 70 who have not
qualified for pensions under the contributory scheme); the administration of
hostels provided under the Polish Resettlement Act, 1947and the assessment under
the Legal Aid and Advice Act, 1949, and the Legal Aid and Solicitors (Scotland)
Act, 1949, of the maximum amount a person applying for legal aid may be called
upon to pay towards the cost of the action.1
The Board is responsible for influencing ‘ persons without a settled way of living ’
to lead a more settled life. It provides temporary accommodation for such persons,
usually through the agency of local authorities, and it runs a residential re-establish¬
ment centre for men of this type or men who have been long unemployed and in
receipt of National Assistance grants.
1 For further information on legal aid see pp. 80-81.
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