3.6 Social and welfare reforms: pressure and action, 1880-1914

Question 1

Booth

Answer 1

Investigated the nature of poverty in London

Took around 17 years to complete his enquiry

Divided population into classes

Question 2

Rowntree

Answer 2

Found that 10% of York was below the poverty line, he defined as primary poverty

Collected 3 surveys of York, provided a wealth of statistical data

Started general survey 1899, published in 1901

11,560 households visited, info maintained from 46,754 people

Question 3

Fabien Society

Answer 3

Key members- Sidney and Beatrice Webb (authors, primarily on socialism)

They held meetings, published pamphlets and lobbied politicians

1906 lobbied for minimum wage

1911 lobbied for universal health service (so people would be able to sufficiently fir to defend Britain)

Question 4

Boer war recruitment crisis

Answer 4

2/3 men rejected, potential recruits didn’t pass basic army examination

Recruitment crisis led to economic concerns: economic competition of USA and Germany, suggested that Britain had an inferior workforce
Military concerns: Empire depended on a fit and sufficient army

Question 5

Fabian society (Boer war and the labour party)

Answer 5

Supported Boer war because small nations wouldn’t have a part in a world of empires

FS sent delegates to the Labour Party Foundation Conference

6 years later LRC sponsored candidates won seats in the election and set up as a set
separate party in Commons

Question 6

Royal commission 1905-6

Answer 6

Set up by conservative government

Question 7

Boer war (findings)

Answer 7

The Interdepartmental committee on Physical Deterioration 1903-4, found that the health of the population was deteriorating, concluded that the health of large sections of the urban population was undermined ur to poverty and negelect

Made 53 recommendations on how to improve personal hygiene and changing public health administration

Question 8

National efficiency (referring to the Interdepartmental committee on Physical Deteriration)

Answer 8

The influence of the debate on national effciency: focused on the importance of human resources in terms of the economic and military field
(debate was sparked by the interdepartmental committee on Physical Deterioration)

Led to the making of social and economic policies and implementing them in ways the British competitors had done

Question 9

Royal commission 1905-1909

Answer 9

Set up by conservative Gov for the enquiry into the the working of the Poor Laws and the best way to relieve the poor

The members were better qualified than those who participated in the Royal Commission in 1832-34

200 PL unions and 400 institutions took evidence from 450 witnesses and 900 statements were wittena nd analysed

Led to 2 contradicting reports in 1909

Question 10

Royal commission majority report

Answer 10

the origins of poverty were basically moral

The Poor Law should remain the main vehicle for dealing with poverty

Board of guardians should be replaced by public assistant committees

There should be greater co-operation between charities and those administering the Poor Law, and voluntary aid committees should be set up to enable this to happen

Question 11

Royal commission minority report

Answer 11

the origins of poverty were basically economic

a ministry of labour should be set up which would introduce and oversee public work schemes, set up a string of national labourer exchange to help the unemployed find jobs and organise a schedule of training schemes and set up detention colonies for those who were deliberately idle

the Poor Law administration should be broken up into education committees to deal with child poverty, pension committees (for elderly problems) and health problems (to deal with the poor who were sick or infirm)

Question 12

Strengths and weaknesses if the majority and minority reports

Answer 12

strengths:
the work of the commission took over 4 years and the problem of poverty and its causes a high profile

put necessary pressure on the gov to come up with a solution

weaknesses:
the gov did not feel compelled to act on either set recommendations

those who favoured no change were greatly strengthened by the majority report, and the changes it recommended were overlooked

boards of guardians opposed the proposal that they should be dissolved, and their opposition was supported by the local government board

Question 13

Liberal government 1906-1914 welfare reforms

Answer 13

Liberal gov elected 1906, it set about building new institutions that were completely operate form the Poor Law system

Old age pensions:
Canon William Blackley wrote an article in the 1878 where he proposed a compulsory contributory pension scheme

Developed by Charles Booth, who suggested tax funded pensions

By 1908 there was a general consensus was made that some form of pension scheme should be introduced and in 1909 the liberal govs proposal was put before parliament

Question 14

Old age pensions Act 1909

Answer 14

Non-contributory and funded by taxes

Paid to men and women over 70

A single person received 5s a week and married couples 7s 6d, later raised to 10s

Full pensions were only paid to those with incomes of less than 8s a week

to qualify one had to be a British citizen and resident in Britain for 20 years

pensions were not paid to people who had continually failed to find work, who had been in prison in the last 10 years, who claimed poor relief in the past 2 years or who were drunkards

strengths:
those claiming pensions were around 600,000, roughly the same number as the elderly claiming poor relief before the Act
cost was roughly the same
for thousands the stigma of being a recipient of poor relief was gone and so was the fear of the workhouse

weaknesses:
this did not reduce the number of elderly people receiving relief in workhouses

Question 15

Labour Exchanges Act 1909

Answer 15

By the beginning of the 20th century people came to realise that there were bound to be periods of trade depression

Winston Churchill’s principle advisor at the Board of Trades was William Beveridge, believed that workers needed support and help when they didn’t have it, he had a clear influence on the act. which aimed at the decasulisation of labour

Feb 1910, 83 labour exchanges were open and by 1914 there were 450 throughout england and wales

Was mostly successful (though some employers were worried that labour exchanges use the excuse that those who were unwilling to work, because they were ‘still looking’ and workers worried that labour exchanges would be used to recruit blackleg labour during a strike)

Churchill and Lloyd George decided to make labour exchanges voluntary, though unemployment insurance was was compulsory in certain trades

Question 16

Trade Boards Act 1909

Answer 16

Dealt with employment in sweated trades (exceptionally low wages, e.g. lace and matchbox making)

created boards that could negotiate and legally set a minus wage for them

Weakness: though 200,000 workers were involved, no attempt was made to define what was meant by minimum wage

Strength: an important predicate had been set, wages are no longer arrived by a private agreement between employer and employee

Question 17

The national Insurance Act 1911 part 1

Answer 17

illness of a main breadwinner was often the cause of poverty, in the early 1900s between 6-7 million were insured against sickness, though in times of financial stress payment insurance was often the first to go

part 1: made to support the poor when ill-health struck the main breadwinner

applied to all workers earning less than £160 a yer and all manual workers aged 16-60

employees contributed 4d, employers 3d and the state 2d per week into the state insurance scheme

payments were made through approved societies

maternity care provided and free treatment was given by a medical practitioner and drugs and medicines were free

weakness: none of the benefits were available for their families, and the £1.5 million for TB treatment was only available for contributors to the scheme

Question 18

The national Insurance Act 1911 part 2

Answer 18

part 2: most unpopular of the liberal govs reforms, dealt with insurance for the unemployed

no claim can be paid if unemployment resulted from misconduct

employer, employees and the state each contributed 2 and a half d to the scheme

workers could claim unemployment benefit of 7s a week for up to 15 weeks in any one year

weakness: workers resented having to pay 4d from their wages and because the payment was flat rate the poorer workers were hit the hardest

people regarded it as a wage cut for there was no guarantee that they would be ill and would benefit from the scheme

strengths: by 1913 13 million workers had been insured in the scheme and an important safety net been established