You will find Friendly Societies intimes of change and insecurity,when people most need to
come together to look after themselves and
take collective responsibility for each other. So although you can
find organisations with these aims from Roman times on, it was the
massive upheavals of the Industrial Revolution which brought about
the growth of Friendly Societies. With no Welfare State, when the
stark alternative was save or the poorhouse, people used societies
as a way of contributing a regular sum of money, however small, to
provide an income in old age or insurance against sickness or inability.
But this wasn’t the whole story. The first piece of legislation to govern Friendly Societies called them “societies of good fellowship”, and so they were. When the Welfare State was founded in the early years of the last century societies played a central role in administering the Government scheme. By 1945 they had 14 million members who belonged to a network of 18,000 societies and branches. Numbers dropped, though, when the Welfare State was nationalised in 1948 very much along Friendly Society lines.
Today we see the Welfare State giving up some of its claims to provide for all, and Friendly Societies returning to their time-honoured place at centre stage. They still promote the ideas of self-help, enabling people to look after themselves, and as new societies are formed to take on the tasks of the future, they join societies which have been shouldering the burden for two centuries.
A World of Friendly Societies
As Friendly Societies grew through the ages, various societies specialised in different areas. Today some societies invest in healthcare - either to fund the cost of medical treatment or to provide an income in the event of illness while others might offer ISAs or credit cards. Friendly Societies provide you with a huge range of choice and you can rely on a rich variety of useful products and good ideas.
Friendly Societies and Healthcare
Some societies specialise in healthcare, either as their sole function, as part of a package with a savings scheme or in addition to other savings products.Most Friendly Societies work with cash. So if you take out a Permanent Health Insurance scheme with a Holloway society, not only can you save for the future but when you are ill the society provides sick pay to see you through. Unlike many organisations which offer PHI, they may cover non-workers and children as well as those in work, and the waiting time before the scheme pays out may be shorter. Hospital cash plans provide money when the members goes into hospital, so they can continue to pay their bills. Some societies also offer particular medical benefits like helping to pay towards dental work or spectacles. Critical illness covers certain specified illnesses which are likely to have a devastating effect on the sufferer. Here again a cash payment is provided.There are also societies, which instead of a financial benefit, offer the right to hospital treatment. Private Medical Insurance (PMI) enables members to take advantage of private healthcare when needed, perhaps in a nursing or convalescent home run by the society or in a private hospital.Sometimes this may be combined with a cash payment as well.Friendly societies are concerned about the well-being of their members. Looking after their health and reducing their anxieties in times of trouble are all part of the service.