social welfare Flashcards
what was social welfare like before 1918?
government welfare provision was based on:
- Victorian poor laws
- liberal welfare reforms from early twentieth century.
the liberal 1911 unemployment insurance provided 7 shillings a week for 15 weeks a year. (relatively poor) - only covered 10% of the male workforce.
what occurred between 1900-1918?
a shift in the political consensus regarding welfare and its importance - more investment went into it.
national insurance act ? 1920
1920 - it was extended from covering 4 million workers in 1911 compared to 11.4 in 1921.
it increased to 75p a week for men
60p a week for women
but was still relatively low in comparison to a low wage earner such as a bus driver who made £3.00 a week
what was different about the 1920 national insurance act?
it wasn’t self-financing from contributions of workers and employer’s as it provided support for “non- contributors” and the use of a means test wasn’t required.
what reasons justified the increased government spending on welfare during the post WW1 period?
- supporting unemployed soldiers who has fought in the war
- the fear that without it it would cause widespread poverty and causing a revolution to break out as seen in Russia.
- unemployment being particularly high.
however although unemployment contracted during the 20’s welfare spending continued to grow.
what was one of the reasons for the national government forming in 1931?
dispute amongst the amount spent on welfare - for example phillip snowden suggested a 10% cut in unemployment benefit and Macdonal set up a national government and alter welfare.
what act was passed in 1931 that was extremely unpopular?
the national economic act - which included a “means test” - this disqualified all short-time workers, which was damaging and created a poverty trap as it meant people stopped working in order to gain from benefits.
it also meant that all exhaustive funds and savings must be relieved before receiving benefits.
benefits could also only be claimed for 6 months after that it was necessary to reapply.
this was gravely unpopular.
what was the unemployment act 1934?
it built on the 1931 act, and got rid of the 10% cut in benefit for short-time workers,
but for long time workers reduced benefit
this causes public protests and it was later reversed.
what happened to unemployment in 1939?
in fell from 3 million in 1933 to under 1.4 million in 1939
what happened to the welfare system post WW2
it continued to increase - the Beveridge report 1942 was published offering a more socially equal society.
how did rationing make people feel more equal in society?
people were eating healthier
everyone was restricted to the same amount
how did evacuation make people feel more equal in society?
middle and upper classes empathised with what life was like for working class families.
what was the 1942 Beveridge report?
it was a report establishing the “5 evils in society” squalor, ignorance, idleness, want, disease
advocated universal rights.
how did the public and government react to the report?
it was extremely popular and sold several hundred thousand copies. it was sent to troop during the war as propaganda to say “keep fighting for a better Britain.” however it wasn’t implemented straight away and Winston Churchill spoke out about the problems with excessive spending on welfare.
what happened in the 1945 election?
labour won and their manifesto was “let us face the future” they argued that a good welfare system has to come from good economic growth. - consensus.
