1908 Liberal Reforms Flashcards
Charles Booth
Booth found that 30% of London’s population lived below the poverty line, differing to the 25% claimed in government stats
Seebohm Rowntree (1901)
Studied in York and found 28% lived in poverty and concluded people needed to earn 21 shillings a week to stay out of poverty
Changing relationship between state and the individual
Booth and Rowntree concluded that 4 factors beyond the individuals control affected poverty
- Low wages
- Irregular work
- Workplace accidents
- Lack of education/housing
List of reforms
1906 Education Act (School Meals) 1907 Education Act (Medical inspection) 1908 Children's Act 1908 Old Pensions Act 1911 National Insurance
Education Act 1906
Strengths/Limits
Local authorities provided free school meals for needy children
- Strength - Enabled hungry children to concentrate and learn more effectively. By 1914, 14 million school meals were being provided
- Limitations - Permissive, were not compulsory, by 1913 only half of Local Education Authorities provided meals
Children’s Act 1908
Strengths/Limits
Parent neglect was made illegal, along with selling alcohol and tobacco
- Strength - State ensure minimum standards of care a protection for children
- Limitations - Some new legislation but a lot of codifying existing law
Education Act 1907
Strengths/Limits
Compulsory for schools to medically inspect children
- Strengths- By 1914, 3/4 of LEA’s were providing such inspections, 2/3rds with some form of treatment
- Limitations - Poor couldn’t always afford treatment and the check was only brief
Old Age Pensions Act 1908
Strengths/Limits
Provided a state pension of 5 shillings a week for single persons and 7 shillings for a married couple
- Strengths - 1 millions pensioners by 1915, paid by the state through local state offices as opposed to Poor Law, paid out of general taxation
- Limitations - Those over 70 on a very low income, only the poorest received the full amount and had to be of ‘good character’, i.e. working regularly and not been a convicted criminal. It was a bare minimum for survival than anything else
Where Liberal reform was lacking
Housing
Poor Law
Education structure
1909 Town Planning Act
Housing remained in short supply and was designed to clear slums for better quality housing, resistance from landlords meant the act was permissive
Poor Law
No attempt to reform Poor Law despite the findings of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws investigation between 1905-1909, creating 47 volumes
Educational Structures
The 1906 Education Bill designed to change the Conservative’s 1902 Act was destroyed by the Lords
National Insurance 1911 (Unemployment)
Strengths/Limitations
Employers and Workers contributed to a weekly national insurance fund, enabling workers to receive a benefit when unemployed
Strength - Covered 2.25 Million workers, guaranteed fund allowed families of the unemployed to avoid destitution
Limitations - Only applied to trades which were known for seasonal employment such as shipbuilding or construction - most workers relied on TU or savings
National Insurance 1911 (Sickness)
Compulsory scheme paid by workers and employers
- Strength - Covered 13 million workers paying a weekly sickness benefit. Free treatment for those with TB and a disability benefit and maternity grant along with free healthcare in some cases
- Limitations - Act covered contributor, treatment had to be paid for bar the sanatorium for TB, Only became effective in 1913 covering 13 million people out of 45 million
Liberal Leader
Lloyd George
