Success of the Liberal Welfare Reforms [Measurement] Flashcards
What is the background for the Liberal welfare reforms?
Before 1900…
- poverty was very common in the country
- Laissez Faire; the idea that government shouldn’t be involved in hardship and poverty because it would raise taxes
- Self help; the idea that someone should be held responsible for their social standing and livelihood.
- charities believed in both of these
What is the line of argument?
The welfare reforms only partly met the needs of the public.
What was the Education (Provision of Meals) Act?
Was introduced in 1906 and allowed councils to provide free school meals to school children. This helped to improve concentration and learning within school but this wasn’t in every council as it was optional and some did not take up the ability. Furthermore, this did not give help during school holidays so children went with far less food when school were off.
What was the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act?
Was introduced in 1907 and required all schools to give free medical inspections. Even though this was a requirement, only 3/4 of children got inspected and majority of them did not get treated as treatment wasn’t included. If the family didn’t have the money, then the child would have a diagnosis and no treatment.
What was the Children’s Act?
Was introduced in 1908 and introduced juvenile courts and banned under 16’s from being put into adult prisons. These new courts forced parent responsibility as they now had to show up to court dates with their child and had to pay fines for them too. Child neglect penalties were also now brought in. Crime seemed to be encouraged instead of solved with this act. There was an attempt to ban alcohol and cigarettes for youths but this did not work as it was never fully enforced.
What was the Old Age Pensions Act?
Was introduced in 1908 a single old person 5s a week, and an elderly couple 7s and 6d. This act allowed people who were afraid of being classed as ‘pauper’ the ability to get help. There were 1 million pensioners by 1915, and more of them were women than men. The qualifications for getting the pension were tough as you had to have been working regularly and not spent time in prison. It was only available to those over 70, which many Brits did not live to. This act was very restricting and limiting and only gave out the bare minimum so was a poor effort in helping the old. On the other hand it did reduce the amount of elderly going into Poor Houses by 75%.
How would you evaluate how well the old’s needs were met?
It did not fully meet the needs of the elderly as the costs of providing a pension for those 65+ was far too expensive for the governments funding. Due to this there were restrictions and minimum age limits put in place which stopped those in need of help from getting help. Elderly now had to rely on family and savings to avoid poverty, especially as the amount given was 2s below the poverty line.
What was the National Insurance Act? [The Sick]
Was introduced in 1911 and allowed contributions to be into a fund by the employee (4d), the employer (3d), and the state (2d). If the person became sick this would be paid out in 10s a week for 13 weeks, and then 5s a week for another 13 weeks. Maternity and disability benefits were now also available. This act was compulsory but only available between the ages of 16 and 60 which was restricting to those working outwith this age range. Furthermore, the fund was only given out for the contributor and not their whole family and so if the sole earner became ill the whole family suffered.
How would you evaluate how well the sick’s needs were met?
The needs of the sick were not fully met as the payments from the fund were limited and age restrictions made it difficult but this was because of the poor funding of the government. You could only receive a pension once you had turned 70, and that left a ten year gap of going unpaid if you became sick. This was especially worrying because due to the poor nutrition at the time, elderly were more likely to fall ill and then not have money to support themselves whilst out of work. Furthermore, many elderly wouldn’t get to experience the benefits of the pension as they would not live to 70 as they were more likely to become ill but then could not afford treatment.
What was the National Insurance Act? [The Unemployed]
Was introduced in 1911 and gave insurance to those who had irregular or cyclical work, but this was only available to certain industries. It paid out 7s weekly for 15 weeks, but after that the government considered them to be “not genuinely seeking work”. Contributions were paid by the employee and employer (2.5d each), and the state (3d). This cover was only for the contributor and so many family struggled with this support.
What were Labour Exchanges?
These were set up to provide places for people to go looking for work, or employers for new workers. It is estimated that for every worker that found a job, three did not and that was one of the biggest flaws with Labour Exchanges. Another issue was how they were criticised for not creating jobs and instead only helping the job market to help, leaving the unemployment issue unresolved.
How would you evaluate how well the unemployed’s needs were met?
The needs of the unemployed were not met because the government were not helping to create employment opportunities. They financially aided families for short periods of time, and then once that up would blame them for being lazy and not job hunting were there were very minimal jobs to hunt. Furthermore, the Labour Exchanges were very poor in matching a persons qualifications with jobs, e.g. someone highly qualified in law could be offered a manual labour job.
What are the reasons for your line of argument?
- The measure put in place to help people were only to a certain extent e.g. free schools meals were not compulsory and so children were going hungry.
- Financial id that was given out was very limited as a person had to meet restrictions and if they did it only lasted for a short period of time.
What is the balance of this essay?
On the other hand, their needs were met as…
1. There was a 75% decrease in elderly going into poor houses
2. People were given 26 weeks worth of money when they became sick and unable to work
What are the factors in this essay?
- The Young
- The Old
- The Sick
- The Unemployed
