ABSTRACT
THE Bill was introduced in August 1945 and the chief recom-mendations of the White Paper were enacted the following year. 1 With a few exceptions, persons under contract of service were compulsorily insured against industrial injury. Such exemptions as were made were to be decided by the Minister, subject to appeal at the High Court in certain cases (e.g. matters of law). As the weekly contribution was relatively small, few needed to seek exemption, and most paid willingly, knowing the benefits to be high in proportion to the contribution. There was no longer any limitation on income, type of work or age. If a person was in normal employment, as an employee, he was required to pay, even if she were a married woman opting out of the general scheme of national insurance, or an old age pensioner. Employers contributed in respect of their workpeople, and the state subsidised the scheme. The contributory income in the period after the Act was, on the average, approximately £40,000,000 per year, of which the state contributed about one-fifth (£8,000,000), the rest being divided between the employers' and the employees' contributions. * In a few cases, self-employed persons were included, so that the definition of personnel covered was interpreted fairly widely. A separate industrial injuries fund was to be kept by the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (as he became in 1953) and the administration was to be undertaken by the normal staff and offices of the Ministry.
