How did WW2 affect Welfare provision?

Question 1

What was welfare provision generally like in the interwar years, during WW2 and during post war consensus?

Answer 1

• Interwar: sporadic, ‘not joined up’ (no proper welfare state) + made very difficult due to the economic conditions/approaches of gov.
• WW2: Shift in attitude to collective support for welfare state - shared experience of war bought everyone closer together + Beveridge Report (1942)
• Post-war consensus: welfare state spending increases at same time as deficit increases which led to £800 mil deficit (victim of its own success)

Question 2

Describe what welfare provision was like in the interwar years and what acts were introduced

Answer 2

• State ‘provided’
• National Insurance Act (1911): provided healthcare + benefits but only applied to 6 industries when first created - did not insure workers families + not universal
• Ministry of Reconstruction 1917 (homes fit for heroes)
• 1920 Unemployment Insurance Act - universal (at first)
• 1919 Housing + Town Planning Act - homes fit for heroes

Question 3

Describe what welfare provision was like in WW2

Answer 3

• Shift in attitudes created by condition of war - led to radical overhaul of Welfare System (creation of Welfare State)
• Borrow + spend in pursuit of success (new economic wisdom - keynesianism)
• Principles of Beveridge - 5 giants: idleness (through maintenance of full employment) , want (through national insurance), squalor (by rehousing), disease (through NHS) + ignorance (through better education)
  (635 000 copies sold when published)

Question 4

What was eligibility like for Unemployment Insurance Act (1920)?

Answer 4

When Britain was in a ‘slump’ they had to bring means test so it was unable to be universal

Question 5

What act did they introduce in the interwar years to improve housing but what stopped the extent of this act from happening? What affect did this have on housing shortfall?

Answer 5

• 1919 Housing + Town Planning Act - 600,000 homes needed but only 213, 000 completed as Geddes Axe cut spending
• Spending on housing from £206 mil to £ 182 mil
• 822, 000 shortfall of houses in 1923

Question 6

What was WW2’s impact on birth rates?

Answer 6

Live births fluctuated throughout 20th century but there was a sharp peak after WW2 ended (1947)

Question 7

What was WW2’s impact on life expectancy?

Answer 7

1940 - life expectancy fell because of the war’s effect on civilian population (many armed forces conscripted overseas)

Question 8

What was the government’s attitude to poverty during WW2?

Answer 8

• Much more involved in people’s lives - gov intervention welcomed
• Took active interest in providing for welfare of British people