Making of Modern Britain 1880 - 1951 Flashcards
THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
Unemployment - Families had no means of support.
Large families - Many children to be catered for.
Old age - No income received as they weren’t working. Not many people could save for old age.
No national welfare system - No protection for people against the worse effects of sickness and unemployment.
Illness - Those off work due to illness would not be paid and had the added costs of medical treatment.
Death of breadwinner - No one available to make money to look after the family.
BELIEF IN SELF HELP
Self help meant that people could escape poverty by saving money and living a sensible life. People believed that people living in poverty should help themselves as it would mean others would have to put money towards helping them and their tax pay would go up. The poor were seen by the wealthy as unfortunate. The belief existed as people thought others were poor due to laziness, drunkness and lack of morals. Charities were big in supporting the poor.
THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM
Some believed that the poor should use self help and the government shouldn’t intervene. Many also believed in educating the poor to live better lives.
The Poor law of 1834 was introduced by the government to provide indoor and outdoor relief.
The poor law meant that people in poverty would go into the warehouse. Conditions were bad to act as a deterrent. The inmates were given repetitive jobs.
Poor houses were also built but only the disabled, widows, deserted wives with children, the old and sick would get help from the poor house. Poor houses were not as harsh as the workhouse
Conditions in poor house
- Humiliating experience
- Like a prison
- Boring and repetitive work
- Food was cheap and not enough
- Strict discipline
REPORTS OF BOOTH AND ROWNTREE
Booth studied London and found that 30% of people lived in poverty.
Rowntree studied York and found that 30% of people lived in poverty.
They both found the poverty line was 21 shillings a week.
they both found that people could not pull themselves out of poverty with no help and identified the main causes as illness, unemployment and age.
CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARDS POVERTY
National efficiency- Many feared that Britain was in decline as a world power and needed a strong healthy workforce. Britain went to the Boer war in South Africa in 1899 and found that many of its recruits were unfit due to poverty.
Influence of Germany - Germany made social reforms in early 1880s and became economically and military strong. MPs in Britain felt inspired to introduce similar reforms.
New liberals - The new liberals ideas had emerged which suggested that the government should intervene to help the poor. - Lloyd George and Churchill.
The labour party - The labour party supported improving conditions for the working classes. The liberal party feared it might lose support due to the new party if they didn’t help the poor.
Greater understanding - Following the publication of Booth and Rowntree, led to greater sympathy for those suffering. The government now also understood what could be done to improve the situation.
LIBERAL REFORMS 1906-1914
The Liberal party won the general election and passed a number of reforms to reduce poverty.
The young, old, sick, unemployed.
THE YOUNG
Provision of meals Act 1906,
Free school meals were provided and local authorities were given grants to fund 50 percent of the cost of meals. However, Health deteriorated again during the school
holidays and it was costly for the government.
Administrative Provisions Act 1907,
School children received three medical inspections during their school years and free medical treatment was given to kids in schools after 1912. However, Free treatment was not available for kids until 1912 and even then many local authorise didn’t provide it.
Children’s Charter 1908,
Children were banned from begging and penalties were given to shops that sold tobacco or alcohol to children. However, there was little success with the alcohol and tobacco and the Children’s charter did very little to deal with the cause of juvenile crime.
THE SICK
National insurance Act part 1, 1911,
Provided compulsory health insurance for workers earning under £160 a year and was offered 30 shillings for maternity benefit. However, After 26 weeks absence work, all benefits were removed and the Poorlaw had to provide, there was no provision for the workers family and many found thag contributions acctually made poverty worse as people were paid less.
THE UNEMPLOYED
Labour exchanges act 1909
There were offices to help the unemployed find work and by 1914, 3000 people a day were being provided with work. By 1913, 430 labour exchanges were operating. However, It was not compulsory for employers to register vacancies and it was criticised for only finding temporary low paid work so it did not reduce poverty.
National Insurance act Part 2, 1911
After one week, an insured worker who has lost their job would receive 7 shillings a week for 15 weeks and many trades were involved such as shipbuilding as the scheme was compulsory for these trades. However,Cover was only provided for a limited time depending on the contributions, if the worker was fired for bad conduct, no benefit was provided and insurance was only available in certain trades and around 2 million workers.
THE ELDERLY
Old age pensions Act 1908,
People over 70 with an annual income of £21 to £31 would recieve a pension. By 1914, 1 million people were receiving a pension. However many pensioners had no birth certificate to prove their age and those who earned over £31 did not recieve anything. Many died before the reached the age of 70 years and didn’t benefit from the pension.
EFFECTS OFF WARTIME ON ATTITUDES TO POVERTY
Rationing - Britain did not produce enough food to feed its population and imported foods from all over the British Empire. The Germans used submarines to try and blow up the ships carrying food to Britain. The government organized rationing of food, clothing and fuel. The price of restaurant meals was limited and extra milk and meals were provided for expectant mothers and children. The fact that everyone was restricted to buying foods, created a sense of sharing in Britain. The government was also taking more involvement into peoples health’s.
Bombing - Britain was an industrialized country which produced a lot of materials needed to fight in war. Materials such as coal, ships and tanks were produced. The germans aimed to destroy Britains capability to produce these. The German luftwaffe was used to target and bomb british industrial cities including london and glasgow. Bombing was very intense during 1940 and is referred to as the Blitz. The government tackled this problem by encouraging people to build bomb shelters in their gardens and introduced ‘black out’ after dark so that Germans wouldn’t see light from the sky.
This tackled poverty as all classes were equally at risk and civilians were working together to construct shelters.
Evacuation - The government took action to ensue safety. Children were evacuated from industrial cities to the countryside so they would be safe from bombing. People who cared for this children were shocked by the state they were in as they often dressed in poor rags. They suffered from illnesses such as polio and lacked education. This changed attitudes to poverty because working class children were mixed with affluent families and upper and lower class citizens were brought together.
THE BEVERDIGE REPORT
William Beveridge worked with the Liberal government at the start of the 1900s. During the war, Beveridge began to investigate the social security in Britain. He identified the 5 giants and the reasons why people were unable to better their circumstances.
Ignorance - Caused by lack of education
Want - Caused by poverty
Disease - Caused by inadequate health care provision
Squalor - Caused by poor housing
Idleness - Caused by lack of jobs and ability to gain employment
RECOMENDATIONS
The government should undertake full employment.
A National health service should be set up.
People in work should pay weekly national insurance contributions.
Unemployed people have the right to payments for an indefinite period of time.
Family allowances introduced.
Payments should be made at a standards rate with no means test.
WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT
Scheme was universal, available to everyone
Society should fight the five giants of poverty.
All working people would pay the same and get the same benefit, fair deal. It was compulsory for all workers to pay in.
No-means tested - available to all even if not able to pay.
It was comprehensive and tackled all problems relating to poverty.
THE CHALLENGE OF ADDRESSING THE 5 GIANTS LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE WELFARE STATE UNDER THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT.
PROGRESS ON IMPLEMTING BEVERIDGE DURING AND AFTER THE WAR
In 1943 a ministry to supervise benefits was set up. Temporary housing was built for the homeless. Prices of building materials was controlled to control house prices. Proposals creations the NHS, social insurance and employment. During the war most concentration was on winning the war.
LABOUR PARTY
The labour party formed the government July 1945. Clement Attleaa became Prime minister. Between 1945 and 1951, the labour government passed a series of measures which became known as the ‘welfare state’. The reforms were designed to take care of British people from birth to death. The labour government introduced a number of reforms to tackle the 5 giants.
NATIONAL INSURANCE AND NATIONAL ASSISTANCE
WANT
National Insurance act -
The elderly received pensions, financial assistance with funeral arrangements was provided and it established standardized minimal living conditions for the employed. However, a large number of officials were needed to operate the scheme.
Industrial injuries act - Provided financial relieve for those who were temporarily absent for work due to injury and provided financial relief for those absent long term. However, compensation was paid by the government not employers - this meant that the government footed the bill for injuries at work.
DISEASE
National health service act -
The NHS provided free access to doctors, dentists and opticians.
The doctors, opticians and dentists were inundated with patients queueing for treatment that they previously could not afford. However, The NHS began to cost 13.5 million a month. And it had to partially backtrack on its principle by charging for spectacles and dental treatment.
IGNORANCE
Education act - All local authorities had to provide primary, secondary and further education and free education was available for all until the age of 15. However many were concerned that academic education would be harmed by combining it with less academic children.
SQUALOR
New towns act -
twelve new towns were built in order to reduce overcrowding and nearly 200,000 new homes were built by 1947. However high demand for housing still existed
Housing act -
Councils could buy houses in disrepair to make improvements and householders could apply for assistance to make improvements. However, poor housing and homelessness were still serious problems at the end of the labour administration.
NATIONALISATION AND EMPLOYMENT
IDELNESS - Government nationalised industries in Britain in order to create and maintain job levels in industries such as steel. This kept unemployment rates very low. However, British economy and jobs still depended heavily on loans and aid from America and women found themselves out of jobs when service men came home.
ASSESSMENT OF THE GOVERNMENTS ACHIEVEMENT
The labour government had mixed success in dealing with the 5 giants. Historians have criticized and praised their achievements. Despite the limitations, it is still praised for its attempts to provide universal care.
