Out of work

Abstract

The ruthless maxim that ‘he who doesn’t work doesn’t eat’ is not waived all the time; but, with a number of exceptions — such as quitting a job for no good reason, refusing to accept a suitable job or not trying to get a new job — the National Insurance fund, paid for largely by those weekly stamps, will hand over unemployment benefit until a new job comes along. There is a time limit depending on the number of stamps standing to the unemployed person’s credit with a standard maximum of 312 days’ benefit at one time. The basic rates are the same as for sickness benefit — £4 10s for a man plus £2 16s for his wife or any other adult dependant, 25s for the eldest child and 17s for each other child. An insured married woman generally draws £3 2s (if she is single she draws the same as a man) and a person under eighteen years of age with no dependants draws £2 10s.