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Heritage
The company was established in 1868 by Reverend Canon George Portal, John Pares, William Rock Carling and David Williamson. The four founding members named it the Surrey County Benefit Society.
The new name
During the first 3 years of business, the society expanded rapidly and soon had members from beyond the boundaries of Surrey. The name of the society was changed to reflect this and became National Deposit Friendly Society.
The National Insurance act of 1911
The National Insurance act of 1911 stated that friendly societies should administrate state benefits as the government did not have the infrastructure to handle the scheme nationally. The changes brought about meant that it was a legal requirement for all insured workers to join a recognised institution such as National Deposit.
Friendly societies across the country dutifully performed this function without any direct state administration until the implementation of the National Health Service act of 1948.
The groundbreaking legislation provided people in Britain with free healthcare, at home or in hospital, as well as dental and ophthalmic services and a number of National Deposit’s staff were transferred to help setup and run the newly formed NHS.
Friendly societies were released from their administration duties and were no longer under any obligations to provide workers with health insurance so a new role was needed for the societies to survive.
A new role for friendly societies
National Deposit suffered during the transition period and 278,206 members left the society as a friendly society membership was no longer required to fund healthcare. National Deposit responded by changing its focus to providing life insurance and endowment policies and by 1966 funds had grown from £221,000 to £2.25 million.
From 1971 through to 1997 the society acquired 4 other friendly societies; The WH Smith & Sons, The Railways Deposit, The Brighton & Sussex Mutual Provident and, with agreement from their members, The National Ambulance FS.
The FSA
In 2003 the establishment of the FSA lead to the formation of the National Deposit Managing Board, designed to strengthen corporate governance. The Board was made up of executive and non-executive directors.
In 2006 the society noticed an opportunity in the Private Medical Insurance (PMI) market for an alternative product proposition. The development of a unique healthcare policy, the Healthcare Deposit Account, was initiated and took the company back to its roots.
We are currently recruiting for:
Chief Information Officer