Labour Welfare Flashcards
Intro background facts
In May 1945, Germany surrendered, and 2 months later, Britain had an election for their post-war government. The result was a landslide victory for the Labour Party because of their ‘welfare state’ system of state assistance for the poor. These benefits by the post-war labour government were based on the 1942 Beveridge report, which identified 5 giant evils of poverty to be tackled to meet the needs of the poor.
Intro factors and LOA
This essay will discuss how successful the labour party was at tackling want, disease and ignorance, and squalor to meet the needs of the poor. This essay will argue that the post-war labour government was not successful at meeting the needs of the British people between 1945-1951.
Want (low income) 1946 national insurance act
The 1946 national insurance act extended the existing national insurance system to cover all workers, who now had to make national insurance contributions. This provided funding for unemployment, sickness, maternity,retirement, and widows benefit.
Want (low income) 1946 national insurance act analysis
This helped meet the needs of the poor as it meant that workers had support during anytime they couldn’t work for long periods which would reduce starvation and homelessness and prevent people trying to work when they are physically unable.
Want(low income) the 1945 family allowance act
The 1945 family allowance act gave an allowance of five shillings to 2-3million families with more than one child. This was seen as a way of keeping wages down and was to be the legal entitlement of the wife, not the husband, which was added by feminist MP Eleanor Rathbone.
Want(low income) the 1945 family allowance act Analysis
This helped meet the needs of the poor as it meant that people with kids did not have to struggle with lower income or have to sacrifice themselves for their children.
Want: Counter argument - the impact of post-war inflation
The government calculated the level of benefits in 1946 and were to be set for 5 years, but by 1948, prices of goods had risen dramatically because of post-war inflation. This meant that benefits were far below subsistence levels.
Want: Counter argument - the impact of post-war inflation analysis
This limits the success of the welfare state in tackling poverty because once the price of goods rose, the benefits gave almost no support to people, and they were in the same state of poverty as they were previously.
Disease - 1946 national health service act
The 1946 national health service act entitled everyone to a free medical service, and all hospitals in Britain were nationalised. Medical care was paid for by the national insurance, and local authorities were now responsible for ambulance services and child welfare.
Disease - 1946 national health service act analysis
This helped meet the needs of the poor as it meant they no longer had to spend money they don’t have on medical care and take as much time off for minor illnesses because they couldn’t afford the medication.
Disease - free prescriptions
The national health service bill became a law in 1946, and by 1947 185 million prescriptions and 8.5 million dental treatments were administered. Dangerous diseases such as tuberculosis were wiped out due to vaccination campaigns, and children’s health improved because of free milk and orange juice.
Disease- free prescriptions analysis
This helped meet the needs of the poor as it meant that people were more likely to recover from their illnesses and wouldn’t have time spend all their money on prescriptions and medication for their kids and so can continue to survive and pay their bills.
Disease: counter argument - rising cost of the NHS
By 1950, the NHS was costing £358 million a year, and so the Labour government was forced to go back on some of its promises by introducing charges for prescriptions, dental and opticians.
Disease: counter argument - rising cost of the NHS analysis
This limits the success of the welfare state in tackling disease because it was too expensive to keep up their support, and so had to charge people for some treatments such as dental care.
Ignorance and squalor - the 1944 Butler education act
All children received a free secondary education, and the education would be adapted to each specific child dependent on ability. The school leaving age was raised to 15, and children had to sit the 11 plus exam to decide which school they should go to according to their abilities.
Ignorance and squalor - the 1944 Butler education act analysis
This helped meet the needs of the poor as it meant that families could now afford to keep their kids in school and so the children could then go into better paying jobs in the future and escape poverty.
Ignorance and squalor - new council housing
During the war Nazi bombing destroyed over 2 million houses, and many pre-war slums still existed, so by the 1950s, the Labour government built over 900000 new homes in the suburbs Most of these were of an excellent standard with gardens, indoor plumbing, and modern heating.
Ignorance and squalor - new council housing analysis
Thus helped meet the needs of the poor as people were less likely to become homeless because there are more houses and they were of better standard meaning less money had to be spent on the house to fix it.
Ignorance and squalor: counter argument - divisive education system
The divisive education system was where grammar school pupils could look forward to a future university place or profession whilst working class children left school with nothing. The stigma of attending a secondary technical or secondary modern was often destructive to the self-confidence of children and so replaced by modern ‘comprehensives’ in the 1960s.
Ignorance and squalor: counter argument - divisive education system analysis
This limits the success of the welfare state in tackling ignorance as trying to give proper education to children to give them better future work opportunities failed. It instead gave them less motivation and discriminated against poorer children, and so did not have a lasting impact.
Conclusion justification
This was because the divisive education system gave grammar school pupils opportunities to progress to university or a work placement while working class children got nothing. Another reason why the post was labour government were not successful at meeting the needs of British people as the benefits set by the government were not changed or re-evaluated for 5 years which meant that many people were not gaining enough support due to hyperinflation.
Conclusion - want rejection
The Labour government was not successful at tackling low income because the benefits did not rise at the same percentage as the price of goods rose, and so many British citizens were living below subsistence levels.
Conclusion - disease rejection
The Labour government were not successful at tackling disease because the NHS cost more than expected, and so they had to put fees back in place for prescriptions and other services, giving people less support.
Conclusion - ignorance and squalor rejection
The labour government were not successful at tackling ignorance and squalor to there was a huge stigma around going to a secondary technical was destructive to secondary students and so was replaced making it not successful.
