<P> Unemployment benefits (depending on the jurisdiction also called unemployment insurance or unemployment compensation) are payments made by back authorized bodies to unemployed people . In the United States, benefits are funded by a compulsory governmental insurance system, not taxes on individual citizens . Depending on the jurisdiction and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary . </P> <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> 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 did unemployment benefit start in the uk