How has Welfare provision looked different over time? Flashcards

1
Q

What was housing like in the interwar years?

A
  • 1919 Housing + Town Planning Act - Attempt to build 600,000 new homes. Only 213,000 built before Geddes Axe cut spending (from £206 mil to £182 mil funding)
  • As a result, housing shortage grew worse with around 822,000 shortfall of houses in 1923
  • 1930 Housing Act moved people to better housing + created ‘cottage estates’ - plan was rushed + only successful in some areas
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2
Q

What was housing like in post-war years?

A
  • 700,000 homes had been destroyed in the war
  • 1945-1951 one million homes were built - 4/5 homes built by gov
  • Use of pre-fab housing as they were quick to make - around 150,000 built but there still was a shortfall
  • 1946 New Towns Act - designed to deal with overcrowding in cities
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3
Q

Give other important context to the area of housing in welfare provision over time

A
  • Gov was far more dynamic + interventionist thanks to commitment to mixed econ. during + after WW2
  • Commitment to ‘balance the books’ (Geddes Axe 1922) made slump worse in the 1920s
  • Keynes in 1940s
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4
Q

What were the similarities in area of housing during interwar years vs post-war years?

A
  • Both time periods had a shortage of housing
  • Both recognised overcrowding was a problem
  • Both introduced an act with the same aim
  • Both time periods the gov had a vision to create a better
    Britain following the war
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5
Q

What were the differences in area of housing during interwar years vs post-war years?

A
  • Gov more willing to take direct action after WW2 by getting involved in market - really well illustrated by fact that 4/5 built by gov
  • A lot more houses built in post war years than interwar years (a lot more successful)
  • Although both introduced an act with the same aim, the act in post-war years was more fulfilled
  • Pre-fab housing in post-war years was more quick + efficient
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6
Q

What was National Insurance + family support like in the interwar years?

A
  • Passed to make sure most workers received unemployment insurance - only 2/3s had access (not universal)
  • Economic slump of the 1920s made it unaffordable + the gov had to introduce means testing
  • National Insurance Act was undermined by the war as many of the 3.5 mil returning troops not eligible
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7
Q

What was National Insurance + family support like in the post-war years?

A
  • 1946 National Insurance Act created a compulsory system to help pay for pensions + benefits for the unemployed
  • Payments were made by gov, employer + employee (self-funded)
  • Support sickness, unemployment, maternity expenses, widowhood + retirement
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8
Q

Give other important context to the area of National Insurance in welfare provision over time

A
  • Pensions before ‘46 only covered 65-70 thanks to 1925 Pensions Act
  • After 1944 gov was committed to a policy of full employment - therefore it was a lot easier to make system self-funding
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9
Q

What were the similarities in area of National Insurance during interwar years vs post-war years?

A

In both time periods, the gov gave benefits (but in interwar years it wasn’t universal)

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10
Q

What were the differences in area of National Insurance during interwar years vs post-war years?

A
  • Means testing was abolished/ended after WW2

* Became more accessible + universal

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11
Q

What was the impact of change in National Insurance over time?

A

Better protection for unemployed/sick

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12
Q

What was the impact of change in housing over time?

A
  • Better quality of housing (less overcrowding)
  • Decrease in the shortage/shortfall of housing
  • Impact of Geddes Axe in interwar years - cut spending by millions
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13
Q

What were the similarities in area of healthcare during interwar years vs post-war years?

A
  • Both tried to provide healthcare to most vulnerable
  • Both recognised the problem of health + disease + tried to solve the problem
  • Both tried to improve Brit. overall health
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14
Q

What were the differences in area of healthcare during interwar years vs post-war years?

A
  • But before NHS it wasn’t fully universal but after it was + was also free
  • Before NHS it didn’t work well (not successful) + not centralised/coordinated well but after NHS it was
  • Healthcare improved more significantly after NHS as it was universal + more discoveries were made
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15
Q

Give other important context to the area of healthcare in welfare provision over time

A
  • Beveridge Report significantly changed healthcare for the better
  • WW2 was a big turning point - it helped create a consensus on healthcare system
  • Mutual Aid Funds - before NHS healthcare wasn’t free
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16
Q

What was the impact of change in healthcare over time?

A
  • Standard health increased (life expectancy higher etc.)
  • Rising costs caused Brit. to have £800 mil deficit (negative)
  • Healthcare available to everyone
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17
Q

What 4 areas can healthcare before the NHS be split into?

A
  • Limits of the 1911 Nat. Insurance Act
  • The War + Ministry of Health
  • Mutual Aid funds/Friendly Societies/GP + Hospital access
  • Gov change during interwar years
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18
Q

How did Limits of the 1911 Nat. Insurance Act affect healthcare before the NHS?

A
  • Who wasn’t covered? : workers’ families & women + children were most vulnerable + had least access to healthcare
  • Free medical treatment + sick pay for those who earned (compulsory health insurance)
  • Employers, employees + gov. paid into scheme
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19
Q

How did the War + Ministry of Health affect healthcare before the NHS?

A
  • Poor standard of health revealed by war - 40% of men declared unfit for combat (those who applied)
  • Ministry of Health wanted to coordinate healthcare
  • Limits to the Ministry of Health
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20
Q

What were limits to the Ministry of Health?

A
  • It lacked authority + political will to drastically reform healthcare system
  • Medical services e.g School Medical Service + Factory Health Inspectorate were still controlled by other authorities
21
Q

How did Mutual Aid funds/Friendly Societies/GP + Hospital access affect healthcare before the NHS?

A
  • What are Aid societies? : They are organisations formed to provide mutual aid (voluntary pay), benefit + insurance - could easily collapse as no. insurance from gov
  • Problems with GP access - patient would have to pay for consultation (1/10 of weeks earnings - expensive) + medicine which means GPs unevenly distributed (work in wealthier areas)
  • Problems/limits with hospital care
  • Limits to Aid funds - widows, wives, children of workers still not insured by 1911 Nat. Insurance Act
22
Q

What were problems/limits with hospital care?

A
  • Only 12 teaching hospitals in London + 10 in province - were the best hospitals + relied on wealthy donations
  • Voluntary hospitals - small + less financially stable secure (end of 1930s in big financial trouble)
23
Q

How did government change during interwar years affect healthcare before the NHS?

A
  • Local Government Act 1929
  • Impact of LGA Act of 1929
  • Growth in gov insurance 1918-1939
  • Consensus formed around healthcare - WW2 helped to create a consensus on healthcare reform + was underpinned by intro. of national emergency healthcare system (intro. to treat casualties from blitz)
24
Q

What was the Local Government Act 1929?

A
  • Local gov responsible running healthcare services e.g dentistry + schools’ medical services - the act made local gov responsible for coordinating healthcare provision
  • Poor Law Hospitals in hands of local gov. + they converted them to local hospitals
25
Q

What was the impact of LGA Act of 1929?

A
  • By 1938, 43% of pop. was insured (but still less than half)
  • Healthcare improving - infant mortality rates falling
  • By 1939, more groups e.g writers for Lancet advocated an NHS
  • Various forms of hospital care developed e.g England + Wales provided 75,000 hospital beds
26
Q

Describe the growth in gov insurance 1918-1939

A
  • Emergency Medical Service 1939 - allowed for resources to be pooled. EMS provided blueprint for NHS
  • National Blood Transfusion Service
  • In 1944 gov. presented White Paper A NHS (comprehensive + free of charge)
27
Q

What 4 areas can healthcare as a result of the NHS be split into?

A
  • Impact of WW2 on healthcare
  • Opposition to NHS
  • Successes/problems
  • Creation of the NHS
28
Q

What was the impact of WW2 on healthcare?

A
  • Emergency Medical Service: provided first aid for air raid casualties + to dictate to hospitals’ health provision - EMS later used to treat civilians + evacuate children
  • Beveridge Report (disease was one of 5 giants) - in 1944 gov presented White Paper A NHS (comprehensive + free of charge medical service) + it called for an NHS
29
Q

Who opposed the idea of the NHS

A
  • BMA (British Medical Association)

* Conservative Party

30
Q

Explain why BMA eventually backed down from opposing the idea of having an NHS

A
  • Feb 1948 - 90% of BMA voted against working with NHS
  • Argued working for state would undermine their clinical independence + feared becoming civil servants (probably more concerned about loss of income)
  • Bevan overcame opposition by granting them a fee for each patient + allowed them to retain private patients
31
Q

Explain why the Conservative Party opposed to the idea of the NHS

A
  • Voted against NHS 21 times before it was passed (they were against state control)
  • Bevan attacked tories for opposing NHS stating they were ‘lower than vermin’ in a speech
32
Q

Describe the creation of the NHS

A
  • Role of Nye Bevan (minister of health in Atlee gov) - aimed to create centrally run system funded through taxes (not insurance) to provide free healthcare for all
  • The Labour Manifesto 1945 - declared they would provide free healthcare + all funded through taxes
  • 1946 National Insurance Act - established for more coordinated, centralised system (voluntary hospitals nationalised + Approved Societies forced to rely on priv. clients)
33
Q

What were the 3 main successes/problems of healthcare as a result of the NHS?

A
  • Health in Britain got better
  • Medical advances
  • Rising costs
34
Q

Give examples of how health in Brit. improved as a result of NHS

A
  • Fall in child mortality rates + maternal deaths
  • Improved methods of combating disease + researched into new techniques, vaccines + medicines
  • Increased life expectancy - 66 in 1950 to 70 in 1979 for men
35
Q

Give examples of how medicine advanced as a result of NHS

A
  • Mass immunisation programmes - drop in cases of polio + diphtheria (diphtheria eradicated in 1984)
  • New antibiotic drugs developed in US caused no. deaths to fall from 25,000 to 800 a year
  • 1st heart transplant in 1968
  • 1953 - DNA structure discovered
  • MMR vaccine offered for free
36
Q

Describe why there were rising costs as a result of the NHS

A
  • No. of staff doubled between 1948-1973
  • People too dependent on NHS + complained about very small problems - ‘dandruff syndrome’
  • Increase in treatments available meant increased cost of healthcare
  • Expected that costs of healthcare would fall after 1948 but this was incorrect - from 1950-1970 cost of NHS increased from 4.1% of GNP to 4.8%
37
Q

Name the education act and the report from the interwar years and include the date they were introduced/established

A
  • Fisher Education Act - 1918

* Hadow Report - 1926

38
Q

Name the two reports and the act on education introduced/established from the post-war years

A
  • The Robbins Report - 1963
  • The Crossland Circular - 1965
  • The Plowden Report - 1967
39
Q

Name the education act introduced during WW2

A

Butler Act - 1944

40
Q

What three areas were affected by education in Britain in the long term?

A
  • Society
  • Economy - more money
  • Culture - entertainment, arts + music
41
Q

What was the ‘satire boom’?

A
  • Comedy on real life situations at the time

* Time where people benefited from the Butler Act

42
Q

What was the Fisher Education Act (1918)?

A
  • Leaving age increased to 14
  • Provided nursery school to toddlers + ‘contribution schools’ for those who left school to get jobs to continue studying 1 day a week (compulsory) - Geddes Axe scrapped this as education spending cut by 1/3
  • Compulsory health check for school pupils - preventing child labour (change in social views that children shouldn’t work at young age + go to school) + punished those who employed children
43
Q

What was the Hadow Report (1926)?

A
  • Framework + inspiration for the Butler Act
  • Recommended that there should be a change of department for children at age of the 11 as well as at age 7
  • This lead to the creation of primary schools (instead of elementary schools) for children 5-11
  • Recommended that school leaving age should be raised to 15
    *Recommended dividing secondary schools into grammar + modern
    However, nothing was done about this report + by 1938 only 45% of secondary school places were free
44
Q

What was the Butler Education Act (1944)?

A
  • Aimed to create a meritocratic (tripartite) system
  • School leaving age is increased to 15 in 1947
  • Secondary education made free + universal
  • It was believed that a child’s ability was fixed by the age of 11 + could be accurately measured with a special type of IQ test (11+ test)
  • The result of the 11+ test would then determine which type of school the child attended
  • Tripartite system (after 11+ test): grammar school, secondary modern or T-school
45
Q

What were the effects + limits of the Butler Act?

A
  • 5% of pupils went to T-schools (led to damaging economy)
  • 70% went to secondary modern (left at 15)
  • 20% received highly academic education
  • ‘Esteem issues’ (self-esteem) - this tripartite system created this
  • Butler Act did not take on public (private) schools
    (State school + public school different - public school was like private schools now)
46
Q

Give context of young people attending university before the Robins Report

A
  • % of 18-21 year olds at uni - only from 0.8% to 4% between 1900 and 1962
  • Universities tended to cater more for classics + arts than to science
  • London increasingly specialising in STEM subjects
47
Q

What was the Robbins Report (1963)?

A
  • Made as a baby-boomer generation was approaching the end of secondary education
  • Report recommended:
  • A universal national grant be provided to all students with a university place
  • There should be a large increase in state funding to increase the no. of uni places
  • 1962-1970, no. of unis went up from 22 to 46
  • Polytechnics offered vocational degrees (but these seen as inferior)
  • 1969 was the launch of the Open University - aimed mainly to adults + people of all backgrounds
  • Better access to uni education increased so workforce became more educated - no. of people who could demand for higher salaries for skilled work increased
48
Q

What was Crossland Circular (1965)?

A
  • 1960-1979 there was a large debate on whether comprehensive schools should replace tripartite system as a fairer + more equal form of education
  • 1966 they restricted funding for LEA’s (forced to turn schools into comps - otherwise no funding)
  • Comps were popular with teacher unions (working-class thought it would allow social mobility) + middle class parents (thought it was fair)
  • By 1979, 90% were educated at comprehensives
49
Q

What was the Plowden Report (1967)?

A
  • Was a report on primary schools that promoted more liberal teaching methods + progressive reforms like:
  • A large programme of nursery school building
  • More project-based work in prim. schools rather than teacher-led activities
  • A focus on learning through play in early years of teaching
  • The teaching of grammar + punctuation was seen as a hindrance to creativity + a threat to progress
    (However some schools took liberal reforms to extremes + parents were worried - schools not strict enough)