1、THE WELFARE STATE 1.World War II and the Beveridge ReportThe War:EvacuationnEvacuation of cities began in Sep 1939n1.5 million children were evacuatednChildren were mainly from poor inner-city areasn20%of Liverpools evacuated children had licenMany children had little knowledge of sanitary habitsnNe
2、ville Chamberlain felt“ashamed of having been so ignorant of his neighbours”The War:equality of sacrificenBoth rich and poor suffered from bombsn61,000 civilians lost their lives to bombsn4M homes were destroyednRationing applied to everyone,regardless of social classnTotal war mean women and men of
3、 all classes did war work-togetherThe War:social securitynA healthy workforce was needed to help win the warnState services became available to all members of societynChurchills coalition took over in May 1940 remember Churchill was instrumental during the Liberal reforms of 1906-18Churchills Govern
4、ment nTook over during Britains“darkest hour”nFailure at Dunkirk affected Britains moralenLabour MPs played a prominent role in Churchills cabinet:Attlee;Bevin;Morrison;Greenwood;Dalton and AlexanderSocial PoliciesnNational Milk Scheme:set up in June 40.Granted nursing and expectant mothers half-pri
5、ce milk.Eventually very poor women would be granted free milk.nProvision of school milk&meals:school meals and milk became free for all pupilsnImmunisation:From 1941 all children could be immunised free of charge infant mortality levels were greatly affectedSocial policies(continued)nState nurseries
6、:set up so that women could return to war worknOld Age&Widows Pensions Act:set up in 1940 to supplement the income of 3/4MnDetermination of Needs Act:set up in 1941 to provide benefit for those who were in poverty;means test no longer included the extended familyThe Beveridge Report 1942nOfficially
7、known as the Report on Social Insurance and Allied ServicesnSold 635,000 copiesnDealt with social issues of the time and was to help reform the social security systemnAimed to put an end to the dreaded means testBeveridge and social securitynThe government should strive to help anyone in need,regard
8、less of age,class or geography nEvery adult in the country would have to pay the same proportion of insurance tax to cover the proposed benefits schemenAll insurance schemes would be combined so that there is only one monthly paymentThe Five GiantsnBeveridge talked about the need to tackle the 5 gia
9、nts but his report only dealt with want.Other problems were:nDiseasenIdlenessnIgnorancenSqualorChurchills responsenChurchill was pre-occupied with winning the warnThe impression of the time was that the govt.did not want to discuss the ReportnChurchill spoke on radio about a national insurance schem
10、e that would protect people from the“cradle to the grave”but did not mention Beveridges recommendationsnThe Conservatives lost a lot of support in 43 electionsThree White PapersnWhite papers are proposed Bills of ParliamentnEducational Reconstruction(July 43)nNational Health Service(Feb 44)nSocial I
11、nsurance(Sep 44)nThese proposals laid the principals of the Welfare State,with two becoming law before the end of WWIIFamily Allowance Act(1945)nChurchills“caretaker”government brought in family allowancenWas to prevent a drop in the birth ratenProvided 5s per week for each child after the firstnVer
12、y small amount of money even by 1940s standardsnAllowance was the legal entitlement of the wife Quotes-Historiansn“the Luftwaffe was a powerful missionary for the welfare state”AJP Taylorn“the true freedom lay in freedom from want,from disease,from ignorance,from squalor and from idleness.Here in th
13、e totality of the vision,was the revolutionary element of the Beveridge Report”D.FraserQuotes civil servants/MPsn“A dangerous optimism is growing up about the conditions it will be possible to establish here after the war”Churchilln“It is because we are convinced that the nation wants this plan and
14、that the nation ought to get it,and that we can afford it,that we have put down this amendment”Griffiths(Labour)Battle against Ignorancen1944 war time coalition passed Education Act which Labour then introduced.nLeaving age up from 14 to 15.nAll children get secondary education without paying fees.n
15、11+(“Qualie”)decided future between grammar&secondary modern.(senior&junior secondary in Scotland)nBig criticism was that secondary moderns offered an inferior education&future opportunities.Battle against WantnLab.Passed 1946 National Insurance nBenefits were set up for unemployment,sickness,matern
16、ity and widows.Now there was a comprehensive insurance scheme for sickness&unemployment benefit,retirement&widows pensions and maternity grants.All adults of working age paid weekly contributions supplemented by employers and the state.nOld age pensions although costly were also brought in for women
17、 aged 60 and men 65nThe Industrial injuries Act provide payments to those temporarily hurt and long term payments for those put permanently out of a jobnIn 1948 a National Assistance Board was set up to help those for whom insurance did not do enough eg pensioners whose pensions did not keep up with
18、 the rise in cost of living.Battle against SqualornRehousing was a major part of post war reconstruction but economic conditions meant that it was always too slow.nLabour favoured council houses over private.However this resulted in inflation of costs and lengthy council housing waiting listsn1946 N
19、ew Towns Act set up 14 across Britain 5 in Scotland including Cnauld&E.K.They were meant to be well planned&have sufficient jobs to attract residents.nBetween 1948 and 1951,around 200,000 houses were built every yearnThis was not enough to satisfy the countrys needs and building supplies and skilled
20、 labour were also in short supply.Battle against DiseasenNHS came into being in 1948 following the NHS Act of 1946nMinister of Health Anuerin Bevan.nFree medical care including dental&optical treatment&free prescriptions.nNat.Ins contributions were greatly supplemented by general taxation.Hospital w
21、ere nationalised but private medicine was allowed to continue as a sop to the BMAnThere were many problems with overcrowded,old out of date hospitals.nHowever the biggest problem was the cost of the system.n1950 the government was forced to introduce charges for spectacles&dental treatment and then
22、prescription charges.Battle against IdlenessnBeveridge had insisted that full employment(under 3%)could solve the problem of povertynThere was no return to the mass unemployment of the 1930s.n1946 Unemployment was only 2.5%.nThe Govt.tried to boost exports&extended rationing to control imports.nVari
23、ous industries were nationalised including coal,electricity,gas,the airways,the Bank of England,the railways and the waterways.This helped achieve full employment but some like coal mining were badly run and cost the government moneyn1949 the was devalued making exports cheaper&imports dearerDavid D
24、utton“the major achievement of the Labour party after 1945 was to complete and consolidate the work of the wartime coalition”Kathleen Woodroofe notes how state action created a system in which welfare support was believed to be a right,free of the shame of the poor law.Martin Pugh in State and Socie
25、ty 1994“.If the welfare state did not abolish poverty altogether,it represented the most effective single campaign against it Any suggestion that state welfare expenditure got out of control has no basis in fact.”ConclusionnThe range of reforms carried through to 1950 make up a system known as“the w
26、elfare state”nThe Labour party built upon foundations laid by the Liberals and ConservativesnThe care of people in need and the improvement of peoples health,housing and education were policies that all three political parties thought necessary.nMore people paid taxes,taxes were higher and controls over peoples lives were more detailed and numerous and the power of the government increased.nEveryday life for the majority of people vastly improved.
