fcs UK homework Flashcards
Legacy of the 1930s- shift to Welfare Statism
People wanted a government that helped them after the legacy of the 1930s and regional inequality it exposed
Rationing- shift to Welfare Statism
Largely equalised society
Made people healthier (difficult to access unhealthy food, tobacco, alcohol)
War- shift to Welfare Statism
People got used to government intervention in the economy and involvement in people’s lives
Beveridge Report (1942)- shift to Welfare Statism
Set out a vision for a more comprehensive welfare state
Vision- Beveridge Report
William Beveridge set out a vision for a more comprehensive welfare state
Ministry of Information found report had support from all elements of society
5 Giants- Beveridge Report
Argued five giants needed to be conquered:
squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, disease
Universal Benefits- Beveridge Report
Report advocated universal benefits
This rejected the means test: Flat (same) rate of contributions from all wage earners to pay for comprehensive welfare benefits and flat rate of benefits irrespective of circumstances
Elections- Beveridge Report
The next election would be fought on the basis of this report
New Jerusalem- Labour’s Welfare Policies
Labour promised to build a ‘New Jerusalem’: a prosperous and egalitarian country
Labour Manifesto- Labour’s Welfare Policies
‘Let us face the future’ promised it would care for citizens from the cradle to the grave
Welfare Policies- Labour’s Welfare Policies
The Family Allowances Act, 1945
The National Insurance Act, 1946
The Industrial Injuries Act, 1946
The National Assistance Act, 1948
Creation of NHS 1948
Benefits- Family Allowances Act, 1945
Created monetary child benefits for the first time
From August 1946, allowance of 5 shillings for each child
Mother- Family Allowances Act, 1945
They were paid to the mother rather than the father
Non-working mothers gained an income independent from their husband → improvement in status
National insurance contributions- National Insurance Act, 1946
All workers now contributed a national insurance charge from their wages
Benefits- National Insurance Act, 1946
This meant unemployment benefits and sickness benefits were available to all workers.
A state pension would be paid to all men over 65 and women over 60. Weekly rate of £1.30 for single people and £2.30 for married couples.
Flaw- National Insurance Act, 1946
British people all paid the same amount into the scheme. Poor people had to pay a much larger percentage of their income
Compensation- Industrial Injuries Act, 1946
Gave workers the right to be compensated by the Ministry of National Insurance for accidents and injuries in the workplace.
Accidents- Industrial Injuries Act, 1946
Average of 2,425 people killed each year at work in 1940s
Coal mining accounted for ¼ of all workplace deaths and injuries.
Benefits- National Assistance Act, 1948
Offered welfare benefits to those who were not covered by National Insurance (those who didn’t work)
Who- National Assistance Act, 1948
The homeless, the disabled, unmarried mothers & pensioners in poverty could claim.
Change- National Assistance Act, 1948
Abolished the Public Assistance Committees that investigated people’s right to benefits in the 1930s.
Replaced with centralised National Assistance Board
Creation- NHS, 1948
National Health Service was created by Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan in 1948
Context- NHS, 1948
The National Health Service Act 1946 set out the blueprint
Change- NHS, 1948
Offered free and comprehensive health cover for everyone, funded by a compulsory taxation scheme taken from wages
Consensus- Welfare Consensus
Commitment from all major parties to support the Welfare State
Middle Way- Welfare Consensus
Macmillan supported a ‘middle way’: some aspects of government intervention to end social deprivation combined with maintaining private enterprise (capitalism)
Dissent- Welfare Consensus
Enoch Powell resigned in 1950s in protest over welfare spending
By 1970s, conservatives reconsidering high costs of welfare spending - it hadn’t solved the issue of poverty
→1965: Child Poverty Action Group claimed 720,000 children were living in poverty
