Britain Transformed-Theme 2 Creating a Welfare State Flashcards
What was the state of Welfare provision in 1918?
- Government provision for the poor was in a bad state due to early liberal reforms and Victorian poor laws.
- Role of poor law guardians to support workhouse workers for the few men who had unemployment benefits.
- Introduced unemployment insurance in 1911 however only covered 10% of the working population and only women of upper class men would be permitted to maternity leave.
What were workhouses used for, when were they abolished?
What did people attitudes shift to now in accordance to state relief?
- Had originally been used to house impoverished households in exchange for work however some turned into hospitals for support of the sick and injured.
- Abolished in 1930 yet some were still used for public assistance institutions and it was now recognised that the state had a much larger role to play in relief for the poor.
What was the effect of Unemployment Insurance Act and when was it passed?
-1920
- Extended social welfare in a number of ways such as National Insurance being extended from the 4 million in 1919 to 11 million by 1921.
- Benefits were increased to 75p for unemployed men and 60p for unemployed women. These were still low compared to average earners such as bus drivers earning £3 a week.
What was the justification of extension of state spending in 1920?
- The need to support unprecedentedly high levels of unemployment.
- Fears that widespread and extreme poverty might lead to a revolution and promote communist ideas.
- The popular desire to support returning soldiers from WWI who risked their lives.
What was The National Economy Act 1931?
- Macdonald’s government introduced a means test to limit unemployment benefits.
- The result was it devastated the most deprived parts of the UK and accelerated hardship for the most vulnerable.
- First the means test disqualified short term workers which led to negative effect on men who worked the occasional day in shipyards.
- It led to making more economic sense to be unemployed than work.
- Created a poverty trap leading to the desire for benefits and elaborate scams.
What was The Unemployment Act and when was it passed?
-1934
-Built on the 1920 act and continued with the distinction between short and long term unemployment
-First, the act got rid of the 10% cut in short term unemployment benefits, restoring the benefits for first six months of unemployment.
-The cut in long term benefits led to public protests, 300,000 protested against the cuts in South Wales alone. However, after some protests they went back to the old ways on long term benefits, showing the public influence on the welfare system.
What was the effect of the Second World War on government intervention?
- Led to a realisation and need for increased government role in unemployment and directing the economy.
- Things such as rationing and evacuations during WW2 showed the government taking control instead of their previous liberal approach.
- Beveridge report significance
What were the effects of rationing?
- There was a thriving black market and many items were available that only certain sections of the population could afford. Even though there was a genuine togetherness and equality in Britain as everyone was eating the same in sacrifice to the war effort.
What was The Beveridge Report and when was it?
-1942
- Was a report set out to destroy the five evils of squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease.
- Was written by social reformer William Beveridge as a plan for the reconstruction of Britain after the war.
- Report advocated a new relationship of co operation between state and the individual.
- Report advocated universal benefits, rejecting the means test and a flat rate of contributions from all wage earners.
What were the reactions to The Beveridge Report?
- Beveridge’s vision was extremely popular and sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
- The ministry of information monitored public opinion and found the report benefitted all elements of society and was well received by the British newspapers.
- The government decided not to implement the recommendations immediately. PM Churchill decided against introducing excessive welfare benefits and was part of the reason he lost the 1945 election to Atlee.
- All parties adopted the report in some form.
What were Labours actions after the 1945 win?
- Argued that state planning should continue in order to rebuild Britain and solve depreciation and unemployment. Atlee said the methods used to win the war should be used to win peace.
- 1945 Labour manifesto, let us face the future made the connection between social welfare and economic success, argued economic success had to be achieved to fund the social welfare.
- Would be a healthier, more productive and more educated workers would make the economy grow.
What was The Family Allowances Act and when was it?
-1945
- Created child benefits for the first time.
- The act gave the allowance of 5 shillings a week for each child except the eldest.
- Therefore, the Act also led to an improvement in the status of mothers who did not work outside the home, because they had a small income and were independent from their husbands.
What was The National Insurance Act and when was it?
-1946
Included:
- Levied a 25p weekly charge on the wages of all workers.
- Made unemployment and sickness benefits available to all workers.
- Paid a state pension to all men over 65 and all women over 60. Pensions £2.10 a week for a married couple.
What was The Industrial Injuries Act and when was it?
-1946
- Extended welfare by giving workers the right to compensation for accidents and injuries in the workplace.
- This was to combat the high death rates as 2,400 people were killed each year at work. Mining was particularly dangerous making up a quarter of the deaths.
What was The National Assistance Act and when was it?
-1948
- Offered welfare to those not covered by national insurance as they did not work.
- The homeless, disabled and unmarried mothers were able to claim, as were pensioners living in poverty.
- Now had a centralised National Assistance Board.
- The act delegated many responsibilities for social welfare to local authorities for example they were tasked in finding suitable accommodation for those in need.
What were the challenges to welfare provision in the years 1964-79?
- Wilson found a £800 million deficit which had been hidden by the Conservatives due to too much spending on welfare and too many imports.
- Wilson was advised to reduce welfare spending however refused due to his commitment to the welfare state and desire to win the next election.
- Had to increase taxation to fund this which started to spark the increasing resentment of the individual on the welfare state. By 1966, social welfare costs had risen 5% of GDP.
What was The National Insurance Act(later one) and when was it?
-1970
- Heath led the Conservatives to victory and inherited high inflation and poor relations with trade unions.
- Act included:
- Gave Pension rights to 100,000 people who had not been converted by the 1948 National Insurance Act.
- Introduced an attendance allowance
- Increased child allowance for mothers
Who was Sir Keith Joseph and what was his opinions on the welfare state?
- Joseph was a Conservative MP who was deeply concerned with the inefficient spending in the welfare state and criticised Heath’s government that had spent more than when Labour was in power.
- Believed that the only way to help those in poverty would be to cut the welfare state to stop the dependency on the state and to escape the cycle of poverty.
What were the arguments by Joseph and Hayek on government spending and efficiency in welfare provision?
- First, Joseph claimed that private businesses were run to make a profit, and due to the government not aiming to make a profit they spent their money inefficiently.
- Second, Joseph argued the more money the government spent, the more inefficient the economy would be. Believed the government should cut government spending in order to make Britain richer and more efficient.
What were the Conservatives opposing in terms of inflation with high welfare spending?
- Joseph argued that welfare spending required high levels of government borrowing. This increased the amount of money in the economy without increasing the amount of goods available which ultimately led to inflation.
- The government tried to invest even more in welfare to control inflation which ultimately made inflation even worse. Only solution was to cut government spending especially welfare provision.
What were the Conservatives opposing in terms of dependency in high welfare provision?
-Ended in 1979
- Radical Conservatives such as Joseph argued welfare bred a dependency culture.
- This “dependency culture” led to two problems. First, it promoted economic decline, as more and more people gave up work and therefore contributed nothing to the economy and increased reliance on the state.
- Secondly. it perpetuated relative poverty as people relied on small handouts rather than earning a decent wage.
- According to the Conservative right, the dependency culture also resulted in moral problems. Welfare they claimed robbed people of self respect that people gained through hard work.
- In essence, the “dependency culture” created a group in society with no goals or aspirations who simply lived off the state.
When and why did it lead to the end of the consensus?
- 1974
- Heath’s failure to win the election in 1974 was the biggest factor in the loss of the welfare state.
- With Heath’s loss, the radical Conservative right seized the opportunity to replace Heath with a more right wing and less sympathetic, Margaret Thatcher.
- Thatcher led a new generation of Conservatives who no longer believed in the post-war consensus, who now would plan on cutting government spending to encourage people to be more self-reliant and pull back the role of the state.
What were the new policies to the start of Thatcher’s conservative reign 1974-79 in terms of welfare provision?
- New Conservative leadership attacked Wilson’s Labour welfare policies. These policies included:
- A 25% rise in pension rates and a freeze in council house rents in the budget 1974
- Invalid Care Allowance 1975
- Universal Child benefit 1975, for all children including firstborn, number of children under this doubled.
- Wilson sought to fund these by taxing high earners.
-Callaghan who succeeded Wilson as Labour PM continued to develop welfare policies such as the Supplementary benefits Act 1976.
What was the first major cut in 1976?
- First cut was insisted by the IMF that was to cut government spending in order to repay a 4 billion loan.
- The government made 2.5 billion in cuts. Housing and education budgets were cut but pensions and other benefits were left largely unaffected
