Denmark. Report on the system of state insurance in Denmark.

  • Great Britain. Foreign Office.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Denmark. Report on the system of state insurance in Denmark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Rpvorl upon State Insurance in Dejimark, including an Account of the Provision made for the Maintenance of the Widows of Government OlJiciah. The system under which every Government official in Den- mark, civil, naval, or military, is compelled by law to devote a certain portion of his salary to making a suitable provision for his widow in the event of his death, may be said to have been inauo-urated in 1740. In the previous year an institution, on the sameprinciple, called the Widow Fund, had been started, but it had been confined to the army, and_ it was only in 1740 that it was extended to all Government officials- Although the system, as put in force at that date, remained more or Icsl unchanged for 35 years it was anything but a success- The regulations were too lenient, and the contributions from the salaries^'set at too low a figure, so that the institution, which was intended to be self-supporting, failed to pay its way, and became on the contrary a burden on the State. As an instance of the causes which led to its failure it may be mentioned that, in fixing the amount of the contributions to the fund, no restriction was made as regards the age either of the contributor or of his wife. Thus an old man on the verge of the grave was not called upon to pay more than a man in the prime of life, though, at his death, an annuity of the same amount was at the disposal of his widow. A<nun, the contribution of a widower who married again was reduced by one-half, although at his death no corresponding reduction was made in the annuity received by his widow. These and other miscalculations rendered the institution so expensive, that it was found absolutely necessary to effect radical^ changes in the system in order to relieve the heavy tax that it laid upon the Royal Treasury. ^ i i These changes were made in the year 1775, when the whole system, was revTsed and new and severer regulations were issued. According to the new plan every Official, married or single, was compelled, on entering the service of the Crown, to pay into the Widow Fund his first month's salary, and, on subsequent promotion to a higher rank and salary, the difference between the two rates of pay for the first month in his new rank. This con- tribution was intended to form the nucleus of the fund out of which the widows' annuities were to be paid, but in the case of a married man its payment did not entitle him to an annuity for_his widow, but only, so to speak, made him a member of the institu- tion, and gave him the right to purchase such an annuity at a certain rate laid down in the regulations. r^at ■ } -i Under these regulations, however, as long as an Utfacial paid the necessary contribution' of his first month's salary, it was left to his option whether he should purchase an annuity for his widow or not; and so few availed themselves of their right to do so that the object of the institution was not attained, and the «;ystem again seemed destined to failure. It was, therefore, thought necessary to revise the rules once