Catalogue description Records of the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance

The Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance was appointed by Royal Warrant dated 9 Dec 1930, under Holman Gregory KC, to enquire into the provisions and working of the Unemployment Insurance Scheme (which had been introduced under the National Insurance Act 1911), and to make recommendations with regard to:

• (i) its future scope, the provisions which it should contain, and the means by which it should contain, and the means by which it might be made solvent and self-supporting; and
• (ii) the arrangements to be made outside the scheme for the unemployed who were capable of and available for work.

The members of the commission agreed that responsibility for assistance to uninsured persons whose benefit was exhausted should be retained by the Ministry of Labour, but a majority report in 1932 advocated administration through the public assistance authorities, while a minority report preferred the use of the employment exchanges of the Ministry of Labour. The exchange and budgeting crisis of 1931 led to the adoption of the former recommendation with the introduction of a scheme of 'transitional payments' administered through the public assistance authorities under their 'means tests'. The division of financial and administrative responsibilities between central and local government proved unsatisfactory. In certain areas commissioners responsible directly to the Ministry of Labour were appointed to supersede the local administration. This experience led the Treasury and the Ministry of Labour to co-operate in planning a national commission or Unemployment Assistance Board to undertake relief of all able bodied unemployed persons.

The final report of the commission (Cmd 4185) was published in 1932.