The Creation of the Unemployment Assistance Board

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Abstract
The creation of the Unemployment Assistance Board in 1934 was an event of constitutional as well as political significance. The transfer of responsibility for the administration of unemployment assistance to a Board whose members were neither drawn from, nor directly answerable to Parliament raised important issues of ministerial responsibility and Parliamentary control. Consequently much of the literature upon the early operation of the Board has emphasised these constitutional aspects rather than the immediate reasons for its introduction. In particular few have challenged the explanation contained in J. D. Millet’s brilliant contemporary study, The Unemployment Assistance Board. Millet was primarily concerned with the Board’s relationship to Parliament. He argued that the transfer was essentially a Treasury measure, designed to halt the rise in the cost of unemployment relief by creating a buffer between the Government and the political pressures for more generous benefits. In short it was an attempt ‘to accomplish politically unpopular ends without suffering from the political consequences thereof’. It is not the purpose of this article to deny the validity of Millet’s basic assertion. Certainly the aim of those involved in the planning of the Board was economy.

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