<P> Unemployment benefits are generally given only to those registering as unemployed, and often on conditions ensuring that they seek work and do not currently have a job, and are validated as being laid off and not fired for cause in most states . </P> <P> In some countries, a significant proportion of unemployment benefits are distributed by trade / labour unions, an arrangement known as the Ghent system . </P> <P> The first unemployment benefit scheme was introduced in the United Kingdom with the National Insurance Act 1911 under the Liberal Party government of H.H. Asquith . The popular measures were to combat the increasing influence of the Labour Party among the country's working - class population . The Act gave the British working classes a contributory system of insurance against illness and unemployment . It only applied to wage earners, however, and their families and the unwaged had to rely on other sources of support, if any . Key figures in the implementation of the Act included Robert Laurie Morant, and William Braithwaite . </P> <P> By the time of its implementation, the benefit was criticized by communists, who thought such insurance would prevent workers from starting a revolution, while employers and tories saw it as a "necessary evil". </P>

When were unemployment benefits introduced in the uk