ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the reasons for some British employers' interest in German welfare, including social insurance and other measures. The interest of British employers in social welfare was not something divorced from their business concern. Some British employers were interested in the assimilation of British practice to that of Germany, others in the grafting of specific aspects of German policy on to British stock and some in the importation of new ideas into areas not covered by British policy. If British employers were better informed about German social provision, their knowledge remained relatively patchy rather than detailed or profound. By mid-1911 many of the British employers, who had not been involved in the debates over social insurance, began to appreciate that insurance legislation was imminent and that they would be asked to bear part of the costs. There were significant and influential groups of British employers who were prepared to lobby very hard for the extension of welfare legislation.
