ABSTRACT
Social security schemes of industrialised societies, whether capitalist or socialist, tend to be comprehensive both as regards the people covered and the risks against which protection is provided. This chapter examines the historical development from partial to complete coverage, the groups of people covered by social security and the various risks against which protection is afforded. The poor law system provided by poor law authorities was in one sense comprehensive: Relief was granted to all who were deemed to be in need. The benefits provided were either so inadequate or so degrading that even those who had to be assisted enjoyed nothing like full or decent economic protection. The relief of distress through local relief schemes was so discredited that the use of national schemes and especially of insurance was received with universal acclaim as the only decent, respectable methods of state protection against economic insecurity.
