🔵| Liberal Reforms Essay

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

• BG: During the late 1800s and early 1900s Britain was facing social problems caused by extreme poverty, many working class people could not afford the basic necessities such as food, clean water or shelter, causing their health to be impacted and life span shortened.
• BG: This was amplified due to the Governments Laissez Faire attitude in which they believed poverty was a problem caused by the individual.
• Factors: Many Historians would argue that the Liberal Reforms did meet the needs of the people because they introduced a series of laws aimed to reduce poverty across various groups (young, old, sick, working / unemployed). However, others would suggest that these reforms simply did not go far enough due to weaknesses within each one.
• LOA: In my opinion, the Liberal Reforms were revolutionary and indeed needed but overall did not fully meet the needs of the people.

Question 2

Young:

KU 1

Answer 2

The first act they introduced was the 1906 Provision of Schools Meals Act which allowed local authorities to raise money via taxes to pay for one hot meal per day for school children.

Question 3

Young:

Analysis 1

Answer 3

It can be said that this met the needs of the young as it was stated in a pamphlet in 1885 that children could not learn whilst hungry or develop sufficiently without vitamins, this ensured satisfactory development of the young.

Question 4

Young:

Analysis+ 1

Answer 4

However, it can be said that this act didn’t go far in meeting the needs of the people because it was a postcode lottery, meaning that it was optional for the authorities to do this and indeed 30 years later still over 50% of the authorities had not done this.

Question 5

Young:

KU 2

Answer 5

Secondly the Children’s Charter of 1908 was created in order to safeguard children, this act ensured that children were not living on the streets without food or education, and it also banned children (under 16) from smoking, drinking alcohol or begging.

Question 6

Young:

Analysis 2

Answer 6

It can be said that this act did meet the needs of the young because it ensured their safety and if they slipped through the net they would even be protected if they had broken the law by the creation of remand homes, this was beneficial as separated them from adult criminals.

Question 7

Young:

Analysis+ 2

Answer 7

However, it can also be said that this act did not go far enough in meeting the needs of the young as it was hard to enforce as more inspectors / social workers were not hired to overcome this.

Question 8

Young:

Evaluation

Answer 8

Overall, it can be said that the Liberal Reforms did make an attempt to meet the needs of the young, the acts allowed progress to be made and for children to be recognised as the underserving poor.

Question 9

Young:

Evaluation+

Answer 9

• However the Liberals acknowledged this but did not force solutions.
• This can be evidenced via the Medical Inspections Act of 1907 which diagnosed conditions but did not allow for treatment alongside this, proving that needs were acknowledged but not met.

Question 10

Old:

KU

2

Answer 10

• The Old Age Pensions Act 1908 gave people over 70 with an annual income of less than £21 per year a pension of five shillings per week.
• A smaller amount was paid to those earning over £21 but under £31.50 per year.

Question 11

Old:

Analysis

Answer 11

It can be said that this act met the needs of old people because it was the first instance of financial help to the elderly in particular which allowed them to rest, and by 1914 one million people were receiving a pension.

Question 12

Old:

Analysis+

Answer 12

However, it can be said that this act did not meet the needs of old people because pensions had particular criteria meaning that many were not eligible. Some of these criteria include having to earn under £31.50 a year and being a British person who had lived in the UK for 20 years.

Question 13

Old:

Evaluation

Answer 13

Overall, it can be said that the Liberal Reforms did make an attempt to meet the needs of the elderly as despite the specific criteria a wide range of the elderly were still eligible for these pensions, meaning more could consider the prospect of retirement.

Question 14

Old:

Evaluation+

Answer 14

• However, the Liberal Reforms didn’t do enough to aid the elderly under the current circumstances in Britain.
• This can be evidenced by the fact that many elderly people did not have birth certificates to prove their age and subsequent eligibility for a pension, which proves the needs of the elderly at that time were not met.

Question 15

Sick:

KU

2

Answer 15

• The National Insurance Act Part 1, 1911 provided compulsory health insurance for workers earning under £160 per year.
• The scheme was contributory, so the employee paid 4d, the employer paid 3d and the state paid 2d to provide a sickness benefit of 9 shillings.

Question 16

Sick:

Analysis

Answer 16

It can be said that this act met the needs of sick people because if ill, people were entitled to sick pay – the employee was paid 9 shillings for up to 13 weeks, then 5 shillings for an additional 13 weeks.

Question 17

Sick:

Analysis+

Answer 17

However, it can be said that this act did not meet the needs of sick people because sick pay was limited. If an employee was off sick from work for more than 26 weeks they lost their pay under the scheme, despite perhaps not being well enough to return to work.

Question 18

Sick:

Evaluation

Answer 18

Overall, it can be said that the Liberal Reforms did make an attempt to meet the needs of sick people as employees were given sick pay to compensate their illness and offered free medical treatment to cure illness.

Question 19

Sick:

Evaluation+

Answer 19

• However, the Liberal Reforms didn’t do enough to aid sick people because the help given was limited.
• For example, there was no provision for worker’s families, so if a family member were to become sick, they were not covered by the worker’s health insurance. This proves that needs were not met with the liberal reforms.

Question 20

Working/Unemployed:

KU 1

Answer 20

The National Insurance Act Part 2, 1911 was introduced to help the unemployed. After one week, an insured worker losing their job would receive 7 shillings a week for 15 weeks.

Question 21

Working/Unemployed:

Analysis 1

Answer 21

It can be said that this act met the needs of the unemployed because many trades, such as shipbuilding, were involved and within these trades the scheme was compulsory.

Question 22

Working/Unemployed:

Analysis+ 1

Answer 22

However, it can be said this act did not meet the needs of the unemployed because the insurance was limited to certain trades, so many received no help.

Question 23

Working/Unemployed:

KU 2

Answer 23

The Trade Boards Act 1909 was introduced to help employed people. The act set up boards to negotiate minimum wage in box-making, lace-making, chain-making and tailoring trades.

Question 24

Working/Unemployed:

Analysis 2

Answer 24

It can be said that this act met the needs of the employed because many workers were able to benefit from it – 200,000 workers did, to be specific.

Question 25

Working/Unemployed:

Analysis+ 2

Answer 25

However, it can be said that this act did not meet the needs of the employed because there was no attempt to define a minimum wage, so many were not given a satisfactory minimum wage.

Question 26

Working/Unemployed:

Evaluation

Answer 26

Overall, it can be said that the Liberal Reforms did make an attempt at meeting the needs of both unemployed and working people as more was done to protect both groups financially.

Question 27

Working/Unemployed:

Evaluation+

Answer 27

However, not enough was done to meet the needs of these groups. Evidence for this is found in the 1909 Labour Exchanges Act as it was not compulsory for employers to register vacancies in labour exchanges in industries such as shipbuilding, proving that needs were acknowledged but help was not properly enforced.

Question 28

Conclusion

Answer 28

• LOA: Overall, the Liberal Reforms did not meet the needs of the people as simply didnt go far enough.
• Yes: It can be said that the reforms were successful and did attempt to meet the needs of the people. Examples include ensuring that young people had a positive start in life via nutritious meals and a health check so that issues could be spotted quickly. In regards to the old they now received money whilst the unemployed had help finding a job and the employed had a safety net if they fell ill in regards to sick pay.
• No: The reason I dont think that the Liberal Reforms met the needs of the people is that they didnt go far enough. It is fair to say that they were revolutionary in that they were the first set of laws which aimed to help people and get away from the laissez faire attitude. However each law had fundamental flaws which meant it was often a postcode lottery as to whether you would benefit. For example, the school meals varied from council to council and medical inspections did nothing to actually help the children. The old age pensions act was not enough money and given to people too late in life whilst the unemployed were only aided in certain trades. Therefore I have proven that the reforms did make a positive impact but not enough.