Britain Transformed Acts Flashcards
1918 Representation of the People’s Act
Allowed all men over the age of 21 to vote
Allowed women over the age of 30 who met certain property requirements to vote (middle class women)
1918 Education Act
The 1918 Act raised the school leaving age from 12 to 14. It abolished all fees in state elementary schools and widened the provision of medical inspection, nursery schools, and special needs education.
1920 Alien Orders Act
The Aliens Order 1920 was an amendment to the Aliens Restriction Act of the previous year. Brought out in the context of widespread unemployment after the First World War, it required all aliens seeking employment or residence to register with the police. Failure to do so would result in deportation.
1924 Housing Act
The Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1924 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The act increased government subsidies to be paid to local authorities to build municipal housing for rent for low paid workers from £6 to £9. It also extended the time over which the subsidy was paid from 20 to 40 years.
1925 Pensions Act
The Contributory Pensions Act of 1925
(Widows’, Orphans’, and Old-Age Contributory
Pensions Act) established a compulsory, contributory system providing old-age pensions to be
paid to wage earners between the ages of 65 and
7 0 and to the wives of insured men, and survivors’
benefits to widows and children of insured men
who die.
1925 Pensions Act
1929 Local Government Act
The 1929 Act made local authorities responsible for Poor Law hospitals (workhouse infirmaries). Those who were able to pay for treatment could be charged, but those who were not able to pay could access medical treatment for free as ratepayers.
1930 Coal Mines Act
The Coal Mines Act 1930 was an Act of Parliament which introduced a system of quotas in the coal mining industry of Great Britain. It was a major achievement of the Labor Party, which revoked the eight hour day that had been enacted in 1926, replacing it with a 7 1⁄2 hour day.
1931 National Economy Act
An Act to authorize the making of Orders in Council for the purpose of effecting economies in expenditure falling to be defrayed out of public moneys and improvements in the arrangements for meeting such expenditure.
1934 Unemployment Act
The Unemployment Act 1934 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom, reaching statute on 28 June 1934. It reduced the age at which a person entered the National Insurance scheme to 14 and made the claiming age 16 years. It also separated benefits earned by paying National Insurance and those purely based on need.
1938 Coal Act
The main purpose of the Act was to create a Coal Commission, consisting of five people (including a chairman) appointed by the Board of Trade. The Commission was required to obey all requests of the Board of Trade that were in the “national interest”, making it directly under the control of the government of the day.
1941 National Services Act
When so many men were conscripted into active service by the National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939, this created a shortage of people who could work in other areas. This was a problem because the war effort needed people not just to fight, but also do vital jobs like work in munitions factories and drive trains. The National Service Act extended conscription to include women, who were called up to do these important jobs. At first, the Act called up unmarried women aged between twenty and thirty, and childless widows. But the Government later extended the age range and included married women, too (except women who were pregnant or had young children).
1942 Beveridge Report
Want, Ignorance, Squalor, Disease and Idleness
1944 Butler Education Act
The Education Act of 1944 was steered through Parliament by the Education Minister, R.A. Butler, and was followed by a similar Act for Scotland in 1945. The Act provided free secondary education for all pupils. Children would be allocated on the basis of an examination at the age of 11, known as the ‘11 plus’. This was intended to provide equal opportunities for children of all backgrounds.
The school leaving age was raised to 15, though the stated intention that it should be 16 was not effected until 1972.
1946 National Health Service Act
The National Health Service Act came into effect on 5 July 1948. The Act provided for the establishment of a comprehensive health service for England and Wales. There was separate legislation produced for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The first Minister of Health was Aneurin Bevan MP. The Act stated that it shall be the duty of the Minister of Health to promote the establishment of a health service to secure improvement in the physical and mental health of the people and the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness. The Act stated that the services shall be free of charge. The Act brought together a wide range of medical services under one organization, including hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists.
