The National Insurance Acts 1911-1947, the approved societies and the Prudential Assurance Company.

The role of the British major life assurance companies in administering the National Insurance Acts in the guise of approved societies has long been controversial. The companies have been accused of profiteering rather than civic duty or social altruism. This article, using the Prudential Assurance Company as a case study, questions this argument. Life assurance companies such as the Prudential were fundamental to the operational running of national health insurance in the first half of the twentieth century due to their scale, scope and expertise. In addition, they were keen to extend the scope of national health insurance and campaigned to make the acts more comprehensive. Finally, while the companies certainly did see benefits in administering the acts, these were related more to corporate identity, branding and public relations than to direct pecuniary gain. An analysis of the inclusion of the life insurance companies in the administration of the National Health Insurance Acts is thus as important for an understanding of twentieth-century Britain as it is for the development of modern social welfare.