2 Creating a welfare state

Question 1

Unemployment during the interwar years

Answer 1

Unemployment was the most pressing issues for interwar governments - It was never below 1 million between the end of the 1920s and mid- 40’s (around 10% of the workforce) and peaked at over 3 million in the early 1930’s.

Question 2

Problems with the National Insurance Scheme

Answer 2

• The self-funding National insurance scheme implemented by the 1911 National Insurance Act was undermined by the war as many of the 3.5 million returning troops were not eligible for the benefits provided.
• This was because they had not worked in one of the specified industries or had not made sufficient contributions.
• The wartime coalition realised that a difficult solution was developing, the national insurance scheme would need to be redesigned and the unemployed couldn’t be left to rely on old Poor law.

Question 3

‘Out of work’ donation

Answer 3

• short term solution issue dole money but under the name ‘ the out of work donation’ (1918-1920)
• Issued to remaining troops and then civilian unemployed until they found work.
• Was paid out of taxation/ borrowing) with no link to individual contributions
• It was meant to be temporary, it set 2 important precedents
• The government accepted the duty to adequately support unemployed, regardless of insurance contributions.
• It provided more money for family dependents

Question 4

1920 unemployment insurance act

Answer 4

• longer-term solution and cover those not employed by the National Insurance Act
• 2/3 workers were eligible to claim insurance
• The act was passed in the 1920’s just as the effect of the post war slump were setting in.
• Rather than creating a self-funding system, the greater number of eligible claimants quickly drained the accumulated funds.
• By 1921 the government was forced to make ‘extended’ or ‘uncovenanted’ payments; these were meant to be paid for through worker contributions from future employment were dole payments disguised as insurance.
• They made this law as the Poor law could not cope with the scale of the problem and ministers feared a revolution if the unemployed were not supported.
• Government already pressured as 2.4 million workers had taken part in strikes over pay and conditions in 1919.
• Attempts were made to limit the expense, a seeking work test was implemented March 1921
• By March 1930, 3 million claims had been rejected because of the test.

Question 5

1929 Local Government Act

Answer 5

• The local government act said that county and borough council had to set up Public Assistance committees (PAC’s).
• They were central funded and replace the poor law guardians who had administered funds under the old poor law.
• In response to the financial crisis of 1931, the PAC’s were given the power to administer means test to claimants
• Their combined household income was thoroughly investigated to judge eligibility for dole payments.
• seen as an invasion of privacy and unfair, as some PAC’s were more stringent than others.

Question 6

1934 Unemployment Act

Answer 6

• The unemployment act separated the treatment of insurable from long-term employment.
• Part 1 of the act provided 26 weeks of benefit payments to the 14.5 million workers who had paid into the scheme
• Part 2 created a national Unemployment Assistance Board (UAB) to help those with no entitlement to insurance benefits.
• By 1937 the UAB had assisted 1 million people on a national means-tested basis.
• By this point the Poor Law provisions shrunk to just a few groups not covered by the UAB; these included widows who could not yet claim a pension and deserted wives.

Question 7

How effective were the government overall in dealing with unemployment?

Answer 7

• The government had not been able to solve unemployment largely because the prevailing wisdom of retrenchment (spending cuts and tax rises) could not stimulate economic growth.
• It was only when huge state spending was poured into rearmament after 1936 that persistent unemployment was finally tackled.

Question 8

1925 Widows, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act

Answer 8

• Brought in by Neville Chamberlain- minister for health
• Addressed criticisms of the 1908 Pensions Act
• Provided a pension of 10 shillings a week for those aged 65-70 and provided for widows, their children and orphans.
• It was funded by a compulsory contribution rather than taxation
• This was initially unpopular with the Labour party, they felt it unfairly penalised the poor
• Tough economic conditions and an ageing population led to its general acceptance
• Self-employed workers of both sexes were allowed to join the scheme in 1937

Question 9

Why was housing reform needed?

Answer 9

Concern that slums promoted crime and disease.
• Lots of slum clearances took place before 1918
• Major improvements in urban living standards were achieved by the introduction of mains water and sewage to homes.
• As late as 1899, only a quarter of houses in Manchester had flushing toilets compare to the 98% by 1914.
• Government had promised returning troops ‘ a home fit for heroes’.

Question 10

1919 Housing and Town Planning Act

Answer 10

• The 1919 Housing and Town Planning Act aimed to empower local authorities to use central government funds to meet housing needs
• It was estimated that over 600,000 houses would have to be built to meet demand
• Only 213,000 were actually constructed before the onset of the recession lead to the ‘Geddes axe’ (1922 Geddes axe led to cuts in spending on education, pensions, unemployment benefit housing and health from £206 million to £182 million. also prompted cuts in defence)
• As a result the housing shortage grew worse with an estimated shortfall of 822,000 houses in 1923.
• A consequence of this was young married couples living with their parents

Question 11

Conservative and Labour Housing Acts 1923 and 1924

Labour Housing 1930

Answer 11

• Conservative and Labour Housing acts in 1923 and 1924 respectively sought to use subsidies to encourage the construction of private and state-owned housing.
• These and the further Labour housing act in 1930 promoted a great deal of house building between 1919 and 1940.
• Four million homes were built in total, with one million built by the public sector.
• The 1930 Act used state funds to rehouse people living in overcrowded cities; most were built in large cities.
• Between 1924 and 1939, 20 ‘cottage estates’ were created on the outskirts of London. These were new suburbs connected the centre by rail.
• While the quality of housing was much improved some projects were not properly thought through.
• At the huge Becontree estate (25,800 houses and flats) a lack of local jobs nearly led to disaster, which was only avoided thanks to the construction of a new ford car factory nearby in 1931.
• With the new homes came not only indoor plumbing and gardens but also increased demand for domestic goods such as new furniture, which further stimulated the economy and helped raise the average standard of living

Question 12

Impact of WW2 on welfare state

Answer 12

• WW2 lead to wide consensus that welfare provision needed a radical overhaul
• A political will developed to iron out the unfairness and inconsistency of the system
• There were several reasons for this shift in attitudes among politicians and the general public:
o A total war, which affected all, had prompted total solutions such as universal rationing and the provision of communal bomb shelters; the success of which gave a boost to Universalist as opposed to selective solutions.
o The sacrifices made during the war lead to the public expecting a just reward. There was several discussions of the fair shares that should continue into peacetime.
o The evacuation of city children to the countryside openly showed the extent of the poverty. This contributed to the acceptance of the need for change.
o The success of a state directed war economy increased political and popular belief in the political state intervention to improve peoples’ lives after the war.
o The war forced government to borrow and spend large sums of money in pursuit of victory. Keynes’s economic views had been proved to work
o The war forced a wartime government and led to a greater deal of co-operation over war-time policy. White papers of 1944 was the basis of the 1946 National Insurance Act, helped to promote conservative acceptance of act.

Question 13

Why was the Beveridge Report 1942 set up?

Answer 13

• Set up on Churchill’s request
• Partly to predict future developments
• Conservatives did not want a repeat of their broken promise of a ‘home fit for heroes’ after WW1
• Clear feeling the war being fought to deliver a better world and a more systematic, inclusive welfare system was fundamental.

Question 14

What were the aims of the Beveridge Report?

Answer 14

• Protection for all ‘from the cradle to the grave’.
• Tackle the five giants of
- Want (through national insurance)
- Disease (through the NHS)
- Ignorance (through better education)
- Squalor (by rehousing)
- Idleness (through the maintenance of full employment).
• Beveridge wanted the provision of the state welfare to be centralised, regulated and systematically organised.
• State welfare should be funded entirely by a compulsory single insurance payment- Beveridge did not anticipate extra government spending on welfare and under his scheme wanted to avoid any ‘means-tested’ assistance payments and the rise of the Santa clause state (given everything for nothing) as a liberal he didn’t want the system to incentivise dependence on the state.

Question 15

How popular was the Beveridge Report?

Answer 15

• 635 000 copies were sold
• Popularity also explained by timing; winning the war made these prospects seem realistic and achievable.
• Copies were even dropped over Germany to encourage the civilian population to demand peace.

Question 16

How did the housing situation change after WW2?

Answer 16

• 700,000 homes been destroyed in the war
• 230,000 houses were built a year by 1948 (however 240,000 were needed to eliminate homelessness)
• 1945-51 1 million homes were built.
• 4 in every 5 homes were built by the state.
• Pre-fabricated homes were a key focus for speed - around 150,000 prefabs were built.
• Licences to produce homes were limited in order to achieve quality.
• 1946 New Towns act created new towns, moving people out of overcrowded cities.

Question 17

Nationalisation 1946-49

Answer 17

• Between 1946 and 49 – coal, civil aviation, cable, wireless, the Bank of England, road transport, electricity, gas, railways, iron and steel, were all nationalised.

Question 18

Education post war

Answer 18

• 900 primary schools built (for baby boom)
• Only 250 secondary schools
• School leaving age raised to 15

Question 19

Issues with the welfare state

Answer 19

• The BMA were initially opposed to the creation of the NHS, it took Bevan persistence and ‘stuffing their mouths with gold’ to get doctors to agree to work for the NHS
• NHS costs rose year on year instead of decreasing - 1949 The Health budget was £597 billion, or 4.1% or GDP
• The welfare state was expensive - Labour had rejected Beveridge’s call for welfare payments to be funded solely through insurance
• Nationalisation meant the government now had to bear the costs of failing industries

Question 20

Rising costs of welfare

Answer 20

• Cost of unemployment benefits rose from 0.6% of GDP in 1939 to 8.8% in 1980
• Baby booms in the late 50s and 60s - 900 000 births per year - meant higher care and education costs for children
• Increase in average life expectancy between 1940 and 1970 (from 64 to 74 for women and 59 to 69 for men) meant a larger burden on the welfare state
• New social groups not covered by the Beveridge report emerged like low-wage earning families and single parent families
• Higher living standards prompted demands for a higher minimum standard of life for the poor - with absolute poverty tackled, people focused on how relative poverty could be eased
• Growing size of the welfare state (by end of 70s welfare spending equated to around 6.5% of GDP) required ever more bureaucracy to make it work

Question 21

Increased criticisms of welfare in the later years

Answer 21

• While spending on welfare increased just as much under Conservative governments as under Labour, criticisms of the welfare state emerged from the right during the 70s
• Margaret Thatcher was a key critic of the welfare state, she feared benefit payments created a poverty trap and encouraged dependence on the state
• Many also felt that the welfare-state was unsustainable with the poor state of the economy, and commitment to full employment was fuelling inflation
• On the other hand the left were angry about the persistence of privilege in healthcare and education, attacked welfare as inadequate and thought more should be done to combat relative poverty.

Question 22

How did a consensus develop over healthcare in the interwar years?

Answer 22

• A growing idea was that government should play a leading role in healthcare provision and investment should be made in medical advances building upon the progress made in the nineteenth century.
• Government should also develop a network of hospitals and rationing healthcare.
• Although there was disagreement and debate about the extent of government intervention, there was a broad agreement that government spending and co-ordination of healthcare provision was critically important.

Question 23

1919 Ministry of Health

Answer 23

• War recruitment uncovered poor standard of health - 40% of men declared unfit for combat
• The Ministry of Health was established to coordinate healthcare
• However the ministry lacked the authority and political will to drastically reform the healthcare system
• Medical services like the School Medical Service and the Factory Health Inspectorate were still controlled by other authorities

Question 24

Insurance companies

Answer 24

• After WW1 there was a growth of large insurance companies, who managed around 75% of health insurance
• A lot of this came through the state due to the 1911
• ‘Approved Societies’ would collect subscriptions and pay costs - by 1937 18 million workers were covered by state health insurance
• However widows, wives and children of workers were still not insured by the 1911 National Insurance Act, they were reliant on family, local community (friendly societies) or a sympathetic GP

Question 25

Access to a GP

Answer 25

• GP’s were the first resort for medical care
• Patients had to pay for consultation and for medicine
• This meant that GP’s were unevenly distributed, with more working in wealthier areas
• The poor would only go to GP’s as a last resort, and altruistic GP’s would often offer their services at lower costs to those seriously in need
• Poorer patients would leave conditions such as hernias untreated

Question 26

Hospital treatment

Answer 26

• The best hospitals were teaching hospitals - there were only 12 in London and 10 in provinces - they relied on wealthy donations
• Voluntary hospitals were smaller and less financially secure, by the end of the 1930’s most were in deep financial trouble- there were 1,100 of these hospitals

Question 27

How did the Local Government Act of 1929 do to support healthcare systems?

Answer 27

• Poor Law Hospitals were now in the hands of local government who convert them into local hospitals.
• Local government was now responsible for running key healthcare services, such as dentistry and schools’ medical services.
• This Act made local government responsible for co-coordinating healthcare provision.

Question 28

How did healthcare provision expand after the Local Government Act 1929?

Answer 28

• Various forms of hospital care developed
• GPs or ‘Panel Doctors’ treated more people through the National Insurance Scheme.
• However, less than half the population were insured against illness and many relied upon traditional remedies and over the counter medicines.
• However, healthcare was improving – a key indicator, infant mortality rates were falling although maternal mortality rates remained high in working class areas.

Question 29

What was the impact of WW2 on healthcare provision?

Answer 29

• The Second World War helped to create a consensus on healthcare reform which was underpinned by the introduction of a national emergency healthcare system introduced to treat casualties from the Blitz.
• The Emergency Medical Service was established in 1939 to provide first aid for air raid casualties and to dictate to hospitals health provision - but it was later used to treat civilians and evacuated children
• It allowed for resources to be pooled and saw a changing attitude in the medical profession who previously wanted to stay independent of the government who were persuaded by government funding for resources and wages.
• The Emergency Medical Service provided the blueprint for the National Health Service established after the war.
• The National Blood transfusion service was also created
• The 1942 Beveridge Report called for a National Health Service, and in 1944 the government presented the White Paper A National Health Service which called for a ‘comprehensive’ and ‘free of charge’ medical service in Britain

Question 30

Bevan’s role in the creation of the NHS

Answer 30

o Became Minister for Health in the Atlee government
o Bevan aimed to create a centrally run system, funded through taxes and not insurance, that would provide free healthcare to all - his success in achieving these aims was by no means easy.

Question 31

Opposition to the NHS from the conservatives

Answer 31

 The Tories voted against the formation of the NHS 21 times before the act was passed - they were against state control
 Terms like “medical Gestapo” and “medical fuhrer” were bandied about by some of the most Conservative members of the British Medical Association and their political allies.
 Bevan attacked the Tories for opposing the NHS, stating that they were ‘lower than vermin’ in a speech

Question 32

Opposition to the NHS from local authorities

Answer 32

They did not want to lose control of their hospitals

Question 33

Opposition to the NHS from the BMA

Answer 33

 Main opposition to the NHS came from the doctors, represented by the BMA
 The BMA argued that working for the state would undermined their clinical independence, and doctor’s feared becoming civil servants of the state (though in reality doctors were probably more concerned about lost income)
 In February 1948, 90% of the BMA voted against working within the NHS.
 However they found themselves out of step with the majority of the British public - 5 weeks after the launch of an NHS publicity campaign, 75% of British citizens had registered with the NHS.
 Bevan overcame the doctors’ opposition by granting them a fee for each patient, and allowing them to retain private patients - a tactic he angrily referred to as ‘stuffing their mouths with gold’
 Eventually doctors gave in, with 90% of doctors joining the NHS in July 1948, just one month before the launch date.

Question 34

A healthy change?

Answer 34

• Mass immunisation programmes launched in 1958 led to a huge drop in cases of polio and diphtheria - polio, as disease which had previously effected up to 8,000 people in epidemic years, was eradicated by 1984.
• There was a 90% drop in cases of whooping cough by 1970 and syphilis was almost completely eradicated by the early 1990s.
• Many of these diseases had particularly affected children, and the treatments offered by the NHS contributed to a fall in child mortality rates (in 1926 1-14 year olds made up 10% of all deaths, by 1951 this figure had fallen to 1.5%).
• Improved midwifery also lead maternal deaths in childbirth to fall from 1 per 1000 in 1949 to 0.18 per 1000 in 1970.
• Increased funding led to better healthcare provision: Over 300 inadequate cottage hospital were closed in the 60’s and new centres of excellence -with close ties to universities - were founded, as well as new district general hospitals for larger towns.
• These changes contributed to an increased life expectancy: 66 in 1950 to 70 in 1979 for men, 71 in 1950 to 75 in 1979 for women. Life expectancy way higher in Britain than in other developed countries like West-Germany and France
• However, increased life expectancy led to an increase in diseases associated with old age; rates of heart disease and cancer increased throughout the 50’s and 60’s, and arthritis continued to be a huge problem, affecting 200,000 men and 700,000 women in 1970.

Question 35

Rising costs

Answer 35

• Both Beveridge and Bevan had expected the cost of healthcare to fall after 1948; they reasoned that people would get healthier, and preventative medicine would reduce cases of serious illness, and so dependence on the NHS would fall.
• However, their estimates proved to be fundamentally incorrect; from 1950-1970 the cost of the NHS increased from 4.1% of GNP to 4.8%.
• Advances in medical science lead to an increase in treatments available, which increased the cost of healthcare - in 1948, there was only 1 antibiotic available, by 1968 there were 33
• As a result of increased costs, the government were forced to introduce charges for spectacles and dentures in 1951, and prescription charges in 1952. These decisions cause an acrimonious split in the Labour party, and Bevan and his supporters resigned.
• People also came to depend on the NHS in a way that Bevan had hoped to avoid - ‘dandruff syndrome’
• The tripartite division of healthcare between GP, hospital specialist and public health authority also made it difficult to effectively coordinate the healthcare system - a move which would save costs.
• The number of staff employed by the NHS doubled between 1948 and 1979 (from 500 000 to 1 million)

Question 36

1918 Fisher Education Act

Answer 36

• The act aimed to widen access to education by:
– Increasing the school leaving age to 14
– Providing nursery school to toddlers and ‘contribution schools’ for new workers aged 14+ to continue their studies 1 day a week
– Scrapping fees for elementary education
• The Act also punished those who employed school children and provided free, compulsory health checks for secondary pupils
• However few nursery & contribution schools were actually provided due to the Geddes Axe cuts in 1922

Question 37

1926 Haddow Report

Answer 37

• Recommended elementary schools be replaced with primary schools for ages 5-11
• Recommended implementing a tripartite system of grammar, modern and technical schools
• Nothing was done to act on the report until the 1944 Butler Act

Question 38

1944 Butler Education Act

Answer 38

• Aimed to tackle the giant of ‘ignorance’
• School leaving age increased to 15 in 1947
• Secondary education made free and universal
• Education would follow the tripartite model of the Haddow Report; pupils would take the 11+ exam and their results would determine whether they went to a grammar, secondary modern or secondary technical school
o Technical schools specialised in mechanical and technical education, very few of these schools were established because they were costly to run and only 5% of students attended these schools
o Modern schools gave a general education. 70% of students went to these schools.
o Grammar schools provided a highly academic education, they were usually single-sex. 20% of pupils went to grammar schools. Most stayed until 16 to take O-level exams, some then took A-levels and some then went on to university.
• The authors of the act hoped there would be ‘parity of esteem’ between pupils of the different types of school
• In reality, grammar schools had 3x the resources of secondary moderns, and the 11+ came to be seen as a pass/fail test, with those who did not ‘pass’ condemned to inferior education at a secondary modern.

Question 39

The Crosland Circular 1965

Answer 39

• Between 1960 and 1979 there was large debate on whether comprehensive schools should replace the tripartite system (often ironically referred to as the tripartheid system) as a fairer and more equal form of education
• By 1964 10% of all pupils were educated in comprehensive schools, which accepted pupils of all abilities
• In 1965 Labour Education Secretary Anthony Crosland issued a document, known as the Crosland Circular, calling for universal comprehensive education
• In 1966 the government issues a document stating that funding for schools would only go to LEA’s that adopted comprehensive reform
• The argument for comprehensive schools was popular with teachers unions and middle-class parents
• By 1979 90% of students were educated at comprehensive schools

Question 40

Arguments for comprehensive school

Answer 40

• Grammar schools had 3x the resources of secondary modern schools. This did not promote ‘parity’ as promised in the 1944 Education Act.
• In the 1960s many secondary modern schools were already run-down. Comprehensive reform would help many children to avoid these poor schools
• Pupils who failed the 11-plus were condemned to a life of fewer opportunities: only two percent of those who failed the exam were still in school at the age of 17
• The 11-plus favoured middle-class children over working-class children: very few children from working class areas passed the exam
• The majority of the public wanted to scrap the 11+

Question 41

Arguments against comprehensive schools

Answer 41

• Many grammar schools were excellent and produced highly successful students
• Grammar schools were seen as a precious opportunity for social advancement by many working class families with bright children
• In 1975, the government forced direct grant grammar schools to go comprehensive. Many went independent instead; free placed were removed and poorer local parents could not afford the fees
• The rise of more private schools in place of grammar schools led to a system that promotes less social equality
• The majority of the public wanted to keep grammar schools

Question 42

The 1967 Plowden Report

Answer 42

The 1967 Plowden Report was a report on primary schools that promoted more liberal teaching methods and progressive reforms like:
• A large programme of nursery school building
• More project-based work in primary schools, rather than teacher led activities
• A focus on learning through play in the early years of teaching
• The teaching of grammar and punctuation was seen as a hindrance to creativity and a threat to progress

Question 43

How did schools respond to the Plowden Report?

Answer 43

Some schools took these liberal reforms to extremes, a move which worried parents:
• Schools introduced relaxed discipline, no uniform and teachers were to be called by their first names
• In the William Tyndale Junior School in north London, pupils could choose which classes to attend and could watch television or play table tennis if they didn’t feel like studying
• Some secondary schools also began adopting the recommendations of the Plowden report
• Parents became worried about ‘trendy teachers’ and a lack of discipline in schools

Question 44

GCSE stats

Answer 44

only 20% of student took O-levels, the rest left school with no qualifications. The CSE was introduced in 1965 and students would be streamed into CSE of O-level classes. Though the CSE was seen as an inferior qualification, it offered more subjects and meant student left with some form of qualification.

Question 45

University stats prior to Robbins Committee in 1963

Answer 45

• Rising number of secondary school pupils and the growing government recognition of the economic value of education led to the growth of university education in Britain
• Government funding for universities had increased from £1 million in 1919 to over £80 million in 1962
• Between 1920 and 1950 the proportion of university costs met by students fees fell from 1/3rd to 1/8th as bursaries became more commonplace
• In 1962 local authorities were compelled to give an allowance or ‘grant’ to enable students to concentrate on their studies
• The increase in student numbers received a major boost after WW2; the 1900 there were around 20 000 student, this rose to 38 000 in 1938 and 113 000 in 1962
• Oxford and Cambridge dominated university education: In 1939 they educated 22% of students
• Universities tended to cater more to classics and arts, then to science
• The University of London grew hugely in the 20th century: it had 13 000 students in 1939 and 23 000 in 1963
• London increasingly specialised in STEM subjects
• Some smaller universities founded by larger ones became fully independent (Reading, Nottingham
• However university was still out of reach for the vast majourity of people; the proportion of 18-21 years olds at university only increased from 0.8% to 4% between 1900 and 1962 - in contrast in the US 50% of that age group went to university
• Only 13% of students at Oxbridge were female

Question 46

The Robbins Report 1963

Answer 46

• Report recommended:
– A universal national grant be provided to all students with a university place
– There should be a large increase in state funding to increase the number of university places
• The advice was acted upon
• Between 1962 and 1970 the number of universities increased from 22 to 46
• In 1964 Labour created the CNAA, which allowed non-universities to award degrees: 34 technology colleges elevated their status to polytechnics which offered vocational degrees (although these degrees were seen as inferior)
• The CNAA also enabled the launch of the Open University in 1969; mainly aimed at adults
• Between 1970 and 1983 the number of students increased from 185 000 to 237 000 (however this was still far lower than other industrial nations)
• Better access to university education increased social mobility and resulted in a more highly educated workforce - the number of people who could demand higher salaries for skilled work increased
• There was also less pressure to leave school at a young age