REBUILDING THE COUNTRY AFTER 1945 Flashcards
WHEN WAS THE BEVERIDGE REPORT PUBLISHED ? HOW MANY COPIES SOLD ?
1942
635,000 in a week
WHAT DID THE BEVERIDGE REPORT ADDRESS ?
The five giants
Squalor - Poor living
Disease - Lack of healthcare
Idleness - Lack of work
Ignorance - Lack of education
Want - Poverty
HOW WAS WANT TACKLED ?
1945 Family Allowance Act - 5 shillings a week per child in full time education
1946 NATIONAL INSURANCE ACT - Benefits for the unemployed, elderly, sick and pregnant
1948 NATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACT - Help for people who were homeless or disabled
HOW WAS IDLENESS TACKLED ?
Nationalisation created jobs
Building schemes ensure high employment
HOW WAS IGNORANCE TACKLED ?
Education Act 1944 -Free education until 14
Split education into primary / secondary and further
SQUALOR
The New Towns Act 1946 - News towns built in England 17
DISEASE
1946 National Insurance Act - Free health care for all
Opens 1948
NHS CONTEXT
Aneurin Bevan - Founder of the NHS
Promised free healthcare for all
NHS Act 1946
Pre NHS going to the doctor’s was too costly - A last resort
BMA was opposed, 1948 vote 85% no
Doctors didn’t want to be government employees
Liked private practices
Comproise doctors can take private patients too
NHS opens 5th July 1948
NHS IMPACT
5th July 1948 NHS opens to the public
Within two months 93% of the population are enrolled
NHS cost £248M in the first year £140M over budget
£2M put aside for glasses used within the first week
229M prescriptions given
1951 the NHS cost £500 M to run
Became too expensive so govenment had to start charging for dental and prescriptions
Aneurin Bevan resigns
1951 election - Conservatives decide to keep NHS due to popularity
EDUCATION ACT CONTEXT
Beveridge wanted an equal education system that would provide equal opportunities for war
Pre-war quality of education varied from area to area
Many children couldn’t afford to not work and pay from secondary education
THE EDUCATION ACT 1944
Aimed to provide free education
Divided secondary into grammar technical and secondary modern
The 11+ was introduced to test pupils
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EDUCATION ACT
Not the equal education aimed for
Grammar schools got better funding
grammar school students were projected to go to university and into higher professions
Students who went to seocndary moderns typically went into unskilled jobs
11+ dictated the course of children’s lives
Only a small amount of working class boys actually went to private school
Mainly profited the middle class
Compared to labours work in healthcare and social security they did little for education
HOUSING PROBLEMS
There was a chronic housing shortage after the war
700,000 homes had been destroyed
1/3 of houses were in need of repair
Houses were taken quickly as there was an increase in marriages and birthrate combined with a reluctance to deal with extended family
Labour aimed to build 200,000 new homes a year
This was difficult as raw materials were in short supply and expensive
Pre-fabs were made as short term solutions
By 1951 there was still a housing shortage so much so that people were moved to disused army camps
HOUSING SOLUTIONS
Labour prioritised council housing 4:1
By 1948, 227,600 homes had been built
New Towns Act 1946 was passed.
It aimed for organised and pleasant towns unlike the sprawling cities formed in the industrial revolution
14 new towns were created by 1951 include East Kilbride
NATIONALISATION
Industries that were key to Britain’s recovery were industrialised
£2,700 M was paid out in compensation
Nationalisation was aimed to create industry efficient, full employment and fixed low prices for the consumer
