Welfare Timeline

Question 1

Beveridge Report (1942): 5 evils in our society

Answer 1

Want- Benefits
Ignorance- Free Education
Disease- NHS (1948) 
Squalor- Council Houses
Idleness- Full Employment Policy

Question 2

Social Democrats (1951-1979) Beliefs

Answer 2

Some groups will always be in a weak economic position

Everyone should be entitled to a basic standard of livig living which stops them from turning to crime

Question 3

Social Democrats Policies

Answer 3

Universal Benefits
High taxation to fund free education and healthcare
Governments created jobs for able-bodied males, if needed.
1974, the top rate of earned income was 83%

Question 4

Evaluation of Social Democracy

Answer 4

Fails to adjust to changes in society
Lone parents?
Assumes that everyone wants to work
Costs are too great for Britain to cope with

Question 5

New Right (1979-1997) Beliefs

Answer 5

Society needs entrepreneurs
Taxes should be low on business people
The state should act as a referee
Not interested in relative poverty- there will always be inequality and the best people will thrive
Welfare causes poverty Murray- directly, Marsland- indirectly

Question 6

New Right Welfare State

Answer 6

Reduction of welfare expenditure
Targeted benefits (means-tested)
Social policies made to reduce the cost of benefits by making absent parents pay for their children
Encouragement to use private businesses

Question 7

Evaluation of New Right

Answer 7

Welfare expenditure was still high
Giddens (1990) poverty should be dealt with alongside healthcare, crime, problematic neighbourhoods, parenting and education. Fix underlying problems.

Question 8

New Labour Welfare State (1997-2010)

Answer 8

Mixture of means-testing and universalism
Emphasis on rights and responsibilities
Emphasis on paid employment for everyone
Welfare provided by state, private, voluntary and informal providers (influence from Giddens)

Question 9

Evaluation of New Labour

Answer 9

Social policies to get rid of poverty did not work
Expectation to work for income or benefits still causes problems to some groups e.g. mothers of older children
Was New Labour really new or just a mixture of left and right wing welfare?
NHS still suffers from waiting lists, lack of staff etc.
Wealthy people still get the best welfare options e.g. private schools and doctors- unfair advantage

Question 10

Coalition (2010-2015)

Answer 10

Tuition fees increased- cap removed
Lots of stuff scrapped e.g. EMA, Child Trust Fund, BSF
Child Benefit became means tested
Universal credit will replace all specific benefits reducing cost as well as number in poverty and number of people who are unemployed

Question 11

Eval of Coalition

Answer 11

Poverty was likely to increase under a New Right/Coalition government
Too much austerity