An Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of The Liberal Social Welfare Reforms

Question 1

Introduction - Context

Answer 1

• When the Liberal government came into power in December 1906 welfare reforms were not central to their political agenda and was certainly not in their manifesto.
• The Liberal government transitioned from ‘Old Liberalism’ to ‘New Liberalism’ with Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister from 1908 to 1914 and many reforms passed during Asquith’s tenure which reflected the change in views within the party to one of direct government intervention for the ‘deserving poor’.

Question 2

Introduction - Factors

Answer 2

• The Liberal government introduced many reforms between 1906 and 1914 designed to reduce poverty in
  the most vulnerable groups such as the young, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed.

Question 3

Introduction - LOA

Answer 3

• This essay will argue that overall, the Liberal government’s reforms of 1906 to 1914, were somewhat successful in meeting the needs of the British people.

Question 4

The Sick - National Insurance Act part 1 (Success)

Answer 4

• One reform put in place by the Liberal government to support the sick was the 1911 National Insurance Act part 1.
• This act gave all workers aged 16-60, earning under £160 per year, an income of 10s per week for 26 weeks if they were off work ill.
• The act resulted in covering 15 million workers against poverty due to illness.

Question 5

The Sick - National Insurance Act part 1 (Success) Analysis

Answer 5

• Arguably, this shows the Liberal government were successful in meeting the needs of the British people to an extent as they were able to ensure those off sick were receiving a fixed amount of money that would financially support them whilst sick, preventing them for the time being from going into poverty.

Question 6

The Sick - National Insurance Act part 1 (Failures)

Answer 6

• However, the National Insurance Act part 1 was less effective in meeting the needs of the British people between 1906-1914 as it was contributory.
• This meant that many workers resented the act because they didn’t have enough money to put aside to contribute to the act which led them to fall into poverty.
• Furthermore, after 26 weeks the benefits stopped so for people who suffered from a long-term sickness they would fall back into poverty as they were no longer receiving pay out.

Question 7

The Sick - National Insurance Act part 1 (Failures) Analysis

Answer 7

• Arguably, this shows that the act was limited in its successes for the British people as the fact that so many people couldn’t afford to pay it led more people to fall into poverty and the cap on the time you could receive money made it so not everyone was receiving financial help when they still required it so they were left to fend for themselves once again.

Question 8

The Sick - National Insurance Act part 1 Evaluation

Answer 8

• In evaluation, the National Insurance Act part 1 was successful in meeting the needs of the sick in Britain to a certain extent, the successes was limited as the Act only helped people for 26 weeks but after this benefits stopped so people who suffered from sicknesses that lasted longer than those weeks could fall back into poverty.
  -Nevertheless, the act was a success for the Liberal government in helping the needs of the British people as it was the first time the government was attempting to try and help sick workers with poverty and workers felt as though they can contribute as they payed towards the scheme so it allowed them to keep their self-respect as they felt they were working for the ability to insure themselves sick pay.

Question 9

The Old - Old Age Pensions Act 1908 - Success

Answer 9

• The Liberal government introduced the Old Age Pensions act of 1908 to give financial support to the elderly who previously had none.
• This act provided single men and women over 70, 5 shillings a week and married couples 7 shillings and 6 pence a week.
• This act was successful as it was a non-contributory scheme and help was now a right and not a charity, there was also a reduced stigma around collecting your pension as you collected it from the post office.

Question 10

The Old - Old Age Pensions Act 1908 - Success Analysis

Answer 10

• Arguably this act was successful in meeting the needs of the British people to an extent as the most vulnerable age group in society were now receiving financial help no matter if they were single or married and as the act was non-contributory, they could gratefully accept the money with no shame or stigma.

Question 11

The Old - Old Age Pensions Act 1908 - Failures

Answer 11

• However, the old age pensions act was not completely successful in meeting the needs of the British People between 1906-1914 as the pensions were only for people aged 70 and over when at the time the life expectancy was only 55 for woman and 52 for men due to this age limit, the pensions act wasn’t as successful as there weren’t many people over 70 who claimed these pensions.
• Also, Rowntree commented that the pension given was still not enough to get people out of poverty, ‘5 shillings a week was actually 2 shillings below the poverty line’.

Question 12

The Old - Old Age Pensions Act 1908 - Failure Analysis

Answer 12

• Arguably, this shows the act was less successful as it wasn’t able to eliminate poverty in the older age bracket of society as they were not receiving enough money to float about the poverty line and pensions weren’t available for those of appropriate age as many didn’t live till 70.

Question 13

The Old - Old Age Pensions Act 1908 - Evaluation

Answer 13

• In evaluation, the Old Age Pensions Act 1908 was successful in meeting the needs of the old British people to an extent as although Rowntree stated that the amount payed out was not enough to stop the elderly falling into poverty.
• Nevertheless, it was effective in providing some of the elderly with additional money when they are unable to work as Lloyd George stated in 1909, ‘We hope that poverty will be as remote to the people of this country as the wolves that once infected its forest’. This shows the Liberal Government aimed with the pensions act to ensure that poverty was no longer a rampant problem for those across Britain.

Question 14

The Unemployed - 1909 Labour Exchange Act - Success

Answer 14

• A reform introduced by the liberal government to try and improve unemployment was the 1909 Labour Exchange Act.
• This act helped those in vulnerable positions find employment by opening job centres, where people could come and register themselves as unemployed.
• By 1913, 430 Labour Exchanges had been opened, and by the next year over 1 million people had been employed through this.

Question 15

The Unemployed - 1909 Labour Exchange Act - Success Analysis

Answer 15

• Arguably, this shows that the labour exchanges were successful as it helped a large number of people in vulnerable positions find jobs across Britain and many centres were opened from 1909 to 1913.

Question 16

The Unemployed - 1909 Labour Exchange Act - Failures

Answer 16

• However, in contrast to its successes the Labour Exchange act was limited, this was because the act was voluntary and everyone did not have to partake, therefore many people remained unable to find work.
• The act was mostly unsuccessful as only 25% of people registered were able to find jobs and most of these jobs were part time or seasonal.

Question 17

The Unemployed - 1909 Labour Exchange Act - Failures Analysis

Answer 17

• Arguably, this shows the labour exchange act was unsuccessful as only a quarter of those who were registered actually were employed and to further this, a lot of the work they got was part time, meaning after the work was done, they were unemployed again.

Question 18

The Unemployed - 1909 Labour Exchange Act - Evaluation

Answer 18

• In evaluation, The Labour Exchange Act of 1909 was successful in meeting the needs of the British people to a certain extent as only a quarter of those who enrolled actually found employment meaning by 1914 3 million who had registered were still waiting for a job.
• Nevertheless, 62 labour exchange offices were opened by February 1st, 1910, and a further 368 by 1913, this meant roughly 3000 people were being employed through the Labour exchanges per day.

Question 19

The Young - Education Provision of Meals Act 1906 - Success

Answer 19

• A reform introduced by the Liberal Government to meet the needs of the young was the education Provision of Meals Act in 1906.
• This act was put in place to encourage local authorities to provide school meals for poor children, this was paid for by raising the local tax rates by a half penny.
• In 1906, 3 million school meals were provided across Britain and this figure further rose to 14 million in 1914.

Question 20

The Young - Education Provision of Meals Act 1906 - Success Analysis

Answer 20

• Arguably this act was successful in meeting the needs of the people in 1906-1914 as the provision of meals act meant that parents were no longer responsible if their children were undernourished and the state was finally taking responsibility for the young, therefore millions of children were now having access to free school meals across Britain.

Question 21

The Young - Education Provision of Meals Act 1906 - Failure

Answer 21

• However, the Provision of Meals Act 1906 was not completely successful in meeting the needs of all people as it was not compulsory to supply school meals to the young and many areas did not provide school meals.
• Evidence of this is that less than a third of local authorities were providing free school meals by 1911 and the act was not made compulsory until 1914.

Question 22

The Young - Education Provision of Meals Act 1906 - Failure Analysis

Answer 22

• Arguably this shows that the Provision of Meals Act 1906 was less effective as it was not initially mandatory, and it did not help with the issues of poverty as not all local councils were offering free school meals, so some children were still going without sufficient meals.

Question 23

The Young - Education Provision of Meals Act 1906 - Evaluation

Answer 23

• In evaluation, the Provision of Meals act was effective in meeting the needs of the people between 1906-14 to a certain extent as the act did have limitations in meeting the needs of the young as the act was only focused on term time so during the holidays children would return to school hungry.
• Nevertheless, each child was entitled to one school meal per day during the term time and by 1914, 14 million children had access to a free school meal, and it was evidence that the government were moving away from the laissez-faire ideas.

Question 24

Conclusion - National Insurance Act part 1

Answer 24

• In conclusion, the Liberal reforms were successful in meeting the needs of the British people to a certain extent.
  -The introducing of the National Insurance Act part 1 was effective in meeting the needs of the people to an extent as although benefits stopped being paid out after 26 weeks so people could fall back into poverty nevertheless, success was achieved in meeting the needs of the sick as the act resulted in covering 15 million workers against poverty due to illness.

Question 25

Conclusion - Education Provision of Meals Act

Answer 25

• Likewise, the Education Provison of Meals act was successful in meeting the needs of the people to a certain extent as even though less than a third of local authorities were providing free school meals by 1911 so some children were still not receiving sufficient meals, nevertheless, success was achieved in meeting the ends of the people as by 1910, 9 million children were receiving free school meals and this later rose to 14 million in 1914.

Question 26

Conclusion - Old Age Pensions Act

Answer 26

• Finally, the Liberal Government was successful in meeting the needs of the British people to a certain extent as the Old Age Pensions Act was arguably still not enough for the elderly to fend against poverty as Rowntree stated, Nevertheless, the government stated that this act was a ‘life belt’ to be used with savings of the elderly to help them form poverty.
  -Overall, the Liberal Reforms of 1906 to 1914 were successful in meeting the needs of the British people to a great extent as they resulted in great progress being made to improve the lives of the British people.