Topic Two - Creating a Welfare State 1918-1979 Flashcards
What is Welfare Provision?
- aid given in the form of money or necessities to those in need
- usually given to the old, young, sick or poor
What was the welfare state like in 1918?
- cannot be described as a true welfare state
- a ‘social service state’
- welfare reforms were far from universal
What is the Poor Law?
- a system of relief for the poor
- a clear distinction between the ‘deserving’ poor and the ‘underserving’ able-bodied poor
- workhouses a prominent part of Poor Law
What was the Poor Law replaced with?
Eventually replaced with The Welfare State in 1948 - after WW2
How did Housing provision change from the mid-Victorian era?
Local and National government had made efforts to improve housing
Why had there been a lot of slum clearance before 1918?
there had been concerns that slums promoted crime and disease
What major improvement was made in urban living standards from 1918?
the introduction of mains water and sewerage to homes
By how much did the amount of homes in Manchester with flushing toilets change from 1899 to 1914?
1899 - 1.4% of houses in Manchester had flushing toilets
1914 - 98% of houses in Manchester had flushing toilets
Why was the 1919 House and Town Planning Act introduced?
the government had promised returning soliders a ‘home for heroes’
What was the aim of the 1919 House and Town Planning Act?
- aimed to empower local authorities to use central government funds to meet housing requirements
How did the 1919 House and Town Planning Act fail?
- 600,000 estimated to be needed
- only 213,000 built before recession hit
What was the longer term impact of the failure of the 1919 House and Town Planning Act?
- ## the housing shortage grew worse as a result of the failure of the Act
What was the estimated shortfall of houses in 1923 because of the failure of the 1919 House and Town Planning Act?
shortfall of 822,000 houses in 1923
What acts were introduced to promote house building in Britain in the early 1920s?
- Conservative and Labour Housing Act in 1923 and 1924
- a further Labour Act in 1930
How did the Conservative and Labour Housing Acts in 1923/24 promote house building?
sought to use subsidies to encourage the construction of housing
How many homes were built between 1919 and 1940?
4 million - house building had been promoted by the Labour Act in 1930
What were public funds in the 1930’s used to do?
relocate people living in overcrowded areas
Where were the majority of public sector homes located?
- large cities
- e.g. Manchester and Liverpool
At which housing estate was there nearly disaster because of lack of jobs?
- the huge Becontree Estate
- a Ford factory was built nearby in 1931 and prevented disaster
What did unemployment peak at and when?
over 3 million in the early 1930s
What did unemployment never fall below in the interwar years?
one million (10%)
When was the self-funding National Insurance Scheme implemented?
- introduced in 1911
Who was not eligible for the National Insurance Scheme?
3.5 million troops returning from WW1
What difficult situation developed because of the troops inability to access the National Insurance Scheme?
- it would take time to redesign the scheme
- those who had fought in the War were left to rely on The Poor Law
What alternative was proposed to the National Insurance Scheme which would include troops?
- the government would hand out dole money
- dole money was to be paid out of general taxation
Why were the government resistant to handing out dole money?
- feared that this would encourage reliance on the state
What was the short-term solution to the failure of the National Insurance Scheme?
- dole money would be issued under a different name
- ‘The Out of Work Donation’
When was the ‘Out of Work Donation’ implemented?
1918-1920
Altough it was meant to be temporary, what two important precedents did the ‘out of work donation’ set?
- the Goovernment had a duty to support the unemployed
- Provided more money for dependents
What was the long term solution to the failings of the National Insurance Scheme?
Unemployment Insurance Act
What was the Unemployment Insurnace Act?
the idea that increasing the number of workers covered by insurance would eventually make the scheme self-funding
When was the Unemployment Insurance Act passed?
1920
Why was the Unemployment Insurance Act a failure?
- passed just as the post-war slump began to take ahold of Britain
When and why was the government forced to make extended payments for the Unemployment Insurance Act?
- by 1921
- they feared a revolution
Why did the government fear a revolution?
- Over 2.4 million workers had taken part in strikes in 1919
When and why was a ‘Seeking work test’ implemented in Britain?
- March 1921
- to limit the expense of dole payments being paid out and disguised as insurance under the Unemployment Insurance Act
What was the imapct of the ‘Seeking work test’?
By March 1930 - 3 million claims had been rejected because of the test
What did The Unemployment Act do?
seperated the treatment of ‘insurable’ from long-term unemployment
What was Part I of The Unemployment Act?
- Provided 26 weeks of benefit payments to workers who paid into the scheme
How many workers paid into Part 1 of the Unemployment Act?
14.5 million
What was Part II of the Unemployment Act?
Created an Unemployment Assistant Board to help people with no insurance benefits
How many people had the Unemployment Assistant Board (UAB) helped by 1937?
1 million
Did the government solve unemployment in the inter-war years?
- No - couldn’t stimulate economic growth
What event finally tackled unemployment in Britain?
- Re-armament in the build up to WW2 eventually solved the issue
When were state pensions introduced and by who?
- by the 1908 Pensions Act introduced by Neville Chamberlain (Minister for Health)
Why were State Pensions criticised?
- they were popular with those eligible over 70
- But they were criticised as they were means tested
- they did not support the widows and children of the deceased
How did Neville Chamberlain respond to the criticisms of the 1908 Pensions Act?
with the 1925 Widows’, Orphans’ and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act
What did the 1925 Widows, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act introduce?
- 10 shillings per week for those aged 65-70
- provided for widows and children
How was the 1925 Widows’, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act funded?
- funded by a compulsory contribution rather than taxation
Was the 1925 Widows’, Orphans’ and Old Age Contibutory Pensions Act well received?
- it was initially unpopular with the Labour party
- they felt as though the compulsory contribution penalised the poor
When were self-employed workers allowed to join the pension scheme?
1937
Were the pensions schemes a success?
- the lack of editing to pension provision suggests that Chamberlain’s Act was successful
- more likely to suggest the emphasis that inter-war governments placed on the issue of unemployment
What was the Family Allowance Act 1945?
- mother’s received 5 shillings a week per child
- less than the Beveridge Report recommended
What did the National Insurance Act 1946 do?
- helped pay for pensions
- helped pay for benefits for unemployed
What was the Industrial Injuries Act 1946?
Additional cover for workplace injuries
What was the National Assistance Act 1948?
Tried to help the most vulnerable
When was the NHS established?
1948
Explain four challenges to welfare.
- Cost - baby boom, increased life expectancy, higher standard of living, higher minimum wage
- New Right - dependency created ‘poverty trap’
- Individualism - less state involvement
- Over Dependency - ‘scroungers’
What types of hospitals were there before the NHS?
- voluntary hospitals (relied on charitable donations)
- State hospitals emerged from workhouse infirmaries
- private hospitals
- best hospitals were teaching hospitals
What were hospitals like before the NHS?
- overcrowded and standards varied
- lack adequate hospital provision
- healthcare was not a priority so suffered from a lack of funding
How many teaching hospitals were there in London before the NHS?
only 12
What did National Insurance provide?
- free medical care
- 13 weeks sick pay
Part 1 of the National Insurance Act covered how many workers by 1937?
18 million
When was the Ministry of Health established and why did it fail?
- 1919
- lacked the proper authority to radically change the system
What was the 1946 National Health Service Act?
- voluntary hospitals nationalised
- centralised system established
How did WW2’s coalition government lead to consensus?
- the war forced a coalition government
- Labour Ministers created co-operation of war-time policy
How did WW2 prove state intervention worked?
- government forced to borrow and spend lots of money
- Keynes’ economic views backed up the expansion of the Welfare State
- Successful state-directed war economy - believed state intervention improved lives
How did WW2 create Universalist Collectivist ideas?
- everyone received rations
- Total War prompted total solutions such as rationing
- Total evacuation - exposed the extent of poverty
- Concerned with all people over one particular group
How did the Beveridge Report lead to the creation of the NHS?
- Identified The Five Giants (Disease, Idleness, Ignorance, Squalor and Want)
- The Welfare State created to tackle the Five Giants
- ‘Disease’ tackled by the creation of the NHS - proposed a centralised, regulated and systematically organised health care system in Britain
What were some impacts of the NHS?
- global improvements to healthcare being accessed
- New vaccinations caused disease rates to fall
- life expectancy increased - caused an increase in old age diseases such as dementia
What were some challenges to the NHS?
- Conservatives placed charges on dentures and spectacles despite Bevan feeling this undermined key principles
- Cost was spiraling out of control
- Dependency on the NHS grew
- ‘Dandruff syndrome’
- Treatment becoming more expensive - e.g. CT Scanners and Kidney Transplants
By 1970 what was the cost of the NHS?
4.8% of GNP
What was the 1918 Fisher Education Act?
- increased leaving age to 14
- provided nurseries
- scrapped fees for elementary education
Why was the 1918 Fisher Education Act limited?
suffered from a lack of funding
What was the 1926 Hadow Report?
- suggested Grammar schools, Technical Modern schools and Modern schools under the Tripartite system
Why was Education provision from 1918-1943 limited?
- reforms were opposed by the House of Lords who feared the growing cost of education
- school leaving age was not enforced until 1944
- children often found employment and left education in early teens
What was the Butler Education Act 1944?
- Tripartite System
- 11+ exam
- Still left a gender and class gap
What was the Crosland Circular 1965?
- by 1954 some LEAs had already rejected the Tripartite System
- Labour Education Secretary Anthony Crosland released the Circular 10/65
- Called for LEAs to abandon the Tripartite system
By 1964 how many students attended comprehensive school?
10% of pupils
How did education progress between 1956 - 1979?
- Trendy Teachers
- Schools and teachers saw increased freedom
- Progressive reforms
- concerns around discipline - London had overcrowding
What was University Education like before the 1963 Robbins Report?
- students paid for education without support
- student numbers fell before WW2 - boosted post WW2
- More Universities introduced such as Reading University
- Still class and gender gap
What was University Education like after the 1963 Robbins Report?
- Optimism for baby boom generation
- Concern surrounding funding
- large increase in state funding
- Universities increased from 22 - 46
- Open University
- Boom in University Education
Healthcare
How did healthcare emerge in the 19th Century?
as a hybride of state and private provision
Healthcare
What agencies provided state healthcare before the NHS?
- the Poor Law
- public health authorities
- education authorities
Healthcare
What did The Labour Party call for pre-WW1 that was unsuccessful until after WW2?
- a nationally organised healthcare system
- vested interests in the state and private sector meant it did not happen
Healthcare
Why was WW1 important in the development of a healthcare system in Britain?
WW1 exposed the inadequacies of healthcare which spurred further action
Healthcare
What percentage of Britain’s health insurance did big insurance companies manage before the NHS?
75%
Healthcare
What did Friendly Societies handle pre-NHS?
- they were small
- managed the remaining health insurance not dealt with by big insurance companies
Healthcare
Why was the 1911 National Insurance Act limited?
only insured workers - not wives, widows or children
Healthcare
What was provided by Local authorities pre-NHS?
a range of primary care services
Healthcare
Why were GPs largely inaccessible to the working class pre-NHS?
patients had to pay for any care provided by GPs
Healthcare
What were the best form of hospitals pre-NHS?
teaching hospitals
Healthcare
Why did many voluntary hospitals struggle pre-NHS?
they struggled with the increasing cost of medical advancements
Healthcare
Why was hospital provision inaqequate pre-NHS?
governments didn’t see health as a priority so hospitals suffered a lack of funding
Healthcare
What is an example of a national system that was established in preparation for WW2?
- a national system of blood transfusion depots
- established in 1938
Healthcare
What was the most significant organisation set up by national funding in the build up to WW2?
- Emergency Medical Service
- Set up in 1939
- Used to treat military personnel
- As war progressed a wider range of civilian injuries were treated
Healthcare
What are two examples of advanced treament that became available during WW2?
- plastic surgery
- fixing broken bones
Healthcare
What did Beveridge want the NHS to provide?
preventative rather than just curative medicine
Healthcare
Who was the Minister of Health under Atlee?
Nye Bevan
Healthcare
How was the NHS intended to be funded?
through taxation rather than insurance
Healthcare
What act introduced a centrally controlled system of healthcare?
1946 National Health Service Act
Healthcare
What percentage of the British Medical Association voted against working for the NHS?
in February 1948, 90% of the British Medical Association voted against working for the NHS
Healthcare
By July 1948, how many of doctors joined the NHS?
90% of doctors
- 18,000
Healthcare
How did Bevan state he won the favour of the doctors?
- He had to ‘stuff their mouths with gold’
- doctors had wanted to maibtain control of their careers and independence
- most doctors were concerned about losing their income
Healthcare
List some examples of imapcts of the NHS.
- TB deaths fell from 25,000 to 5,000 a year
- 90% drop in cases of whooping cough by 1970
- Improved midwifery = maternal death in childbirth fell from 1 per 1,000 births in 1949 to 0.18 per 1,000 births in 1970
- Life expectancy increased: men = 66 in 1950 to 71 in 1979 , women = 70 in 1950 to 75 in 1979
Healthcare
What was the impact of increased life expectancy on the NHS?
more illnesses came with more old age - increased strain on NHS
Which diseases saw an increase because of increased old age?
- heart disease
- cancer
- arthritis: affected 200,000 men and 700,000 women in 1970
Healthcare
By 1970, how much did the NHS cost?
4.8% of GNP
Healthcare
What were some reasons for the growing cost of the NHS?
- Advances in science meant more treatments were available
- Higher public expectations led to people depending on the NHS
- Backlog of cases
- More staff meant higher costs
Healthcare
How did the government try to tackle the growing cost of the NHS by 1951?
- 1951 - introduced charges for dentures and spectacles
- Bevan felt this undermined his key principles for the NHS and resigned
- From 1951 there was arguements between parties on how to effectively manage the NHS
Healthcare
What were some medical advancements made in the 60s and 70s?
- kidney transplant
- CT scanners
- Hip replacement
- The Pill and Abortion Act
- led to increased costs for the NHS
- increased pressure placed on the NHS as the years progressed
Education
At what age did most students leave school before 1918?
11
Education
Why did reformists think education before 1918 was unfair?
- working class and girls were not given an equal chance in education
- university was only for the privileged few
Education
What was established under the 1944 Butler Education Act?
a Ministry of Education
How did the 1944 Butler Education Act reinforce the gender and class divide in education?
- gender gap: a gender gap existed in all schools (even primary), girls at grammar schools were encouraged to focus on the arts, gender differences in education reflected the expected career paths for different genders
- class divide: certain students could afford to pay for tutors to ensure they passed the 11+ exam, made them able to attend grammar school and eventually progress to university
