B5 - Effectiveness of the Liberal Reforms

Question 1

acts introduced to help the young

Answer 1

1. Provision of School Meals Act 1906
2. Medical Inspections Act 1907
3. Children’s Charter 1908

Question 2

acts introduced to help the old

Answer 2

1. Old Age Pensions Act 1908

Question 3

acts introduced to help the sick

Answer 3

1. National Insurance Act Part 1 1911

Question 4

acts introduced to help the unemployed

Answer 4

1. National Insurance Act Part 2 1911

2. Labour Exchange Act 1909

Question 5

acts introduced to help the employed

Answer 5

1. Worker’s Compensation Act 1906
2. Coal Mines Act 1908
3. Trade Boards Act 1909
4. Shops Act 1911

Question 6

what did the school meals act 1906 do?

Answer 6

meant that local authorities could issue school meals to poor children and by 1914, 14 million meals were being issued.

Question 7

how did school meals improve the lives of the young?

Answer 7

• improved their health and fitness
• allowed them to perform better in school
• prevented children from suffering from malnutrition

Question 8

why did the school meals act not go far enough?

Answer 8

• children would go hungry at the weekends and fall back into poverty during school holidays
• School meals were also not compulsory until 1914 so only a third of local authorities were involved.

Question 9

what did the medical inspections act do?

Answer 9

-children were given 3 medical checks during their time at school which allowed nurses to check for diseases such as TB and rickets

Question 10

how did the medical inspections act improve the lives of the young?

Answer 10

• ill children could be identified early on
• advice could be given to parents on how to help them.
• inspections highlighted how widespread diseases like TB were.

Question 11

why did the medical inspections act not go far enough?

Answer 11

• problems were only diagnosed and many poor families could not afford to visit a doctor.
• many sick children received no help.

Question 12

what did the children’s charter do?

Answer 12

protected children from abuse and neglect as well as establishing activities which were unsuitable for them to engage in like drinking and smoking

Question 13

why did the children’s charter not improve the lives of the young?

Answer 13

stopping children from begging removed a source of income for many poor families and parts of the acts concerning age limits were particularly difficult to enforce.

Question 14

what did the old age pensions act do?

Answer 14

-provided single men and women over the age of 70 up to 5 shillings a week and married couples 7 shillings 6 pence a week.

Question 15

how did the old age pensions act improve the lives of the old?

Answer 15

• provided the elderly with an income
• removed dependency on family for old people
• pensions were collected from the post office which removed the stigma attached to accessing money from work houses

Question 16

why did the old age pensions act not go far enough?

Answer 16

• average life expectancy was 45 for men and 48 for women so the pensionable age of 70 was far too high.
• many people had to leave their physical jobs in their 50s meaning they went back into poverty for decades before being entitled to a pension.
• 5 shillings was not enough to ensure a person remained above the poverty line.
• there were several reasons why people were exempt from the pension scheme such as using the poor law system in the past year, not working regularly and not having lived in Britain for 20 years.

Question 17

what did the national insurance act part 1 do?

Answer 17

provided all workers aged 16 to 60 and earning less than £160 a year with an income when they were unable to work due to illness

Question 18

how did the national insurance act part 1 improve the lives of the sick?

Answer 18

• 15 million workers were covered and could access free medical treatment when they they were off ill.
• govt beginning to take an active role in the lives of workers.
• a maternity grant of 30 shillings was given to the wife of an insured person
• the Liberals were the first government to try and help sick and injured workers

Question 19

why did the national insurance act part 1 not go far enough?

Answer 19

• no benefit paid after 26 weeks so long-term ill fell back into poverty
• did not cover worker’s wives and children so if they also became ill, no treatment was offered
• workers resented paying weekly contributions and viewed it as a wage cut.

Question 20

weekly contributions of the national insurance act part 1

Answer 20

workers contributed 4d, employers 3d, govt 2d

Question 21

what did the national insurance act part 2 do?

Answer 21

supported workers in trades known for seasonal unemployment by providing 7 shillings to workers who found themselves unemployed.

Question 22

how did the national insurance act part 2 improve the lives of the unemployed?

Answer 22

• provided workers an income whilst they were searching for employment
• by 1913, 2.3 million people were insured against unemployment

Question 23

why did the national insurance act part 2 not go far enough?

Answer 23

-only lasted for 15 weeks so people had to fend for themselves if they were unemployed for any longer

Question 24

what did the labour exchanges act 1909 do?

Answer 24

• provided a place for the unemployed to seek employment.

- employers sent out information of job vacancies to the labour exchanges so workers could find a job more easily.

Question 25

how did the labour exchanges improve the lives of the unemployed?

Answer 25

• 3000 people were finding work every day through the Labour Exchanges
• by 1913, there were 430 Labour Exchanges, proving their popularity

Question 26

why did the labour exchanges fail to improve the lives of the unemployed?

Answer 26

• jobs were still extremely difficult to find
• only 25% of those listed on the Labour Exchanges workforce found employment through them.
• most jobs were temporary or part-time so many people went back into unemployment very quickly
• the government did nothing to increase the number of jobs available

Question 27

what did the workers compensation act 1906 do?

Answer 27

• helped those injured at work

- workers were to be compensated for injuries or industrial diseases caused by the nature of their jobs.

Question 28

what did the coal mines act 1908 do?

Answer 28

• granted coal miners eight-hour days (had been campaigning for this for 40 years)
• vastly improved lives of coal miners

Question 29

what did the trade boards act 1909 do?

Answer 29

-boards were set up to negotiate minimum wage levels for badly paid, non-unionised “sweated trades” (eg tailoring)

Question 30

what did the shops act 1911 do?

Answer 30

-shop assistants entitled to a weekly half-day off and a reasonable break for meals

Question 31

areas left untouched by reforms

Answer 31

• many aspects of poverty were not dealt with
• did nothing to solve low wages
• squalor/slum housing were not tackled either