Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to consolidate and amend the Law relating to Friendly and other Societies. |
---|---|
Citation | 38 & 39 Vict. c. 60 |
Territorial extent | Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man [2] |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 11 August 1875 |
Commencement | Sections 10, 37 and 38 came into force on 11 August 1875. The remainder of the Act came into force on 1 January 1876. [3] |
Other legislation | |
Amended by | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
The Friendly Societies Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 60) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by Benjamin Disraeli's Conservative government following the publication of the Royal Commission on Friendly Societies' Final Report.
It was one of the Friendly Societies Acts 1875 to 1895. [4]
The Act encouraged friendly societies to register with the Registrar of Friendly Societies by granting them the legal right to own land and property in the name of their trustees and the power to take out legal proceedings, in return for registration. Registered societies were subject to regulation: for example they were required to submit returns to the Registrar every five years which gave details of their financial affairs and in-force business which could be used by the Registrar to evaluate their assets against their liabilities under life assurance, annuity and sickness business. [5]
Friendly societies paid de facto old-age pensions in the form of sickness benefit, and the Act defined "old age" as 50 and above. Although a court ruled that "natural decay" was not "sickness" the majority of friendly societies did not accept this ruling as they were in competition with each other, and wanted to continue paying pensions to attract new members. [6]
The Act allowed friendly societies considerable self-management "but insured the adoption of sound rules, effective audit, and rates of payment sufficient to maintain solvency. It established the friendly societies, and with them the people's savings on a satisfactory basis". [7]
In 1889 Mr Braxton Hicks, the London coroner, wrote a letter to The Times about the dangers of child life insurance. He wrote that the insurances act as a temptation to the parents to neglect them, or to feed them with improper food, and sometimes even to kill them, as in the excessively numerous cases of "over-laying" or suffocating in bed. [8]
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been born Jewish.
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A friendly society is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual organization or benefit society composed of a body of people who join together for a common financial or social purpose. Before modern insurance and the welfare state, friendly societies provided financial and social services to individuals, often according to their religious, political, or trade affiliations. These societies are still widespread in many parts of the developing world, where they are referred to as ROSCAs, ASCAs, burial societies, chit funds, etc.
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The Old Age Pensions Act 1908 is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, passed in 1908. The act is one of the foundations of modern social welfare in both the present-day United Kingdom and the Irish Republic and forms part of the wider social welfare reforms of the Liberal government of 1906–1914.
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George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-BentinckPC JP, known as George Bentinck and scored in cricket as GAFC Bentinck, was a British barrister, Conservative politician, and cricketer. A member of parliament from 1859 to 1891, he served under Benjamin Disraeli as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1874 to 1875 and as Judge Advocate General from 1875 to 1880.
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