Britain: Effectiveness of Labour Reforms Flashcards
Introduction: Background Information
Before 1945, there was some help available for people in Britain, implemented by the Liberal government. However, poverty remained a widespread issue with hunger and illness common. In July 1945, Labour won a huge victory over the conservatives and Clement Attlee became the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Under his rule, the government introduced a plethora of reforms to protect everyone in Britain from the ‘cradle to the grave’.
Introduction: Line of Argument
Overall, the social reforms were somewhat successful in tackling ‘the five giants’ of Want, Ignorance, Disease, Squalor, and Idleness.
Want: KU
Poverty was seen as the root cause of many social problems that people suffered from and therefore providing support for those could fix many people’s issues. In 1945, the Family Allowance Act was passed and introduced an allowance of 5 shillings (25p) per week for the second subsequent child a family had – regardless of the family’s income.
In 1946, the National Insurance Act was introduced and provided benefits for the unemployed, sick, widowed, and maternity. The allowance was paid to the parents or guardians of the children. It was a basic rate of 26 shillings per week for single men and 42 shillings per week for married men.
Want: A
National Insurance offered a safety net for people to stay out of work without falling into poverty. Thus, less people fell into poverty during times that they could not work.
Want: A+
the benefits provided were too low, at only 19% of the average industrial wage. Therefore, many families remained below the subsidence level and as a result fell into poverty – meaning the reforms were not fully successful.
Want: Ev1
the National Assistance Act (1948) allowed elderly people to access help for their finances. For example, helping with funeral costs. This meant that elderly people that did not qualify for pensions could still receive benefits and manage their living expenses. Thus, the reforms were successful in improving the financial standing of elderly people.
Disease: KU
In 1948, the National Health Service was introduced and aimed to provide universal access, treat all medical problems, and be free at the point of use. In the first year, the NHS cost £240 million, £140 million more than expected.
The introduction of the NHS greatly increased the number of people accessing prescriptions. It increased from 7 million people per month before the NHS to 13.5 million people per month by September 1948.
Disease: A
it was a revolutionary idea that people could access adequate healthcare regardless of their wealth. Previously, over half of the British population had no medical cover. Therefore, the NHS ensured that more people were staying healthy and avoiding poverty related deaths – making the NHS successful in increasing the number of healthy people in Britain.
Disease: A+
in 1951, Labour voted to introduce prescription charges to help cover the high running cost of the NHS. This undermined the goal of the ‘free’ health service and made it more challenging to access, this makes the reforms less successful.
Disease: Ev2
the introduction of the NHS meant that people could access healthcare professionals with specialised care. There were 480,000 beds available with 125,000 nurses, and 5000 consultant doctors. However, this was only somewhat successful as by 1948 there was a reported shortage of 48,000 nurses. Furthermore, many doctors and dentists disagreed with the concept of the NHS, and some refused to work for it. Therefore, the staffing issues of the NHS greatly prevented significant numbers of people from accessing suitable healthcare and thus it was merely somewhat successful.
Ignorance: KU
The 1944 Education act was designed by the wartime government but brought in by Labour in the formation of the welfare state. Under the act, the school leaving age was increased to 15 – allowing all children to obtain a secondary education. Additionally, all children sat the 11+ exam to determine if they would attend a senior or junior secondary school.
Labour also introduced a national wide programme to build more schools. In 1947 and 1948, 6000 new classrooms and practical rooms were built to enrich the curriculum. Some children were also taught in temporary ‘pre-fab’ classrooms.
Ignorance: A
positive school environments contributed to greater focus of the children. This meant that they were more likely to succeed at learning, greatly reducing ignorance in the nation. Furthermore, the programme created many jobs in the teaching and care industry to aid in the unemployment crisis. Thus, the programme was successful.
Ignorance: A+
many children did not benefit from the new developments as they primarily focused on primary schools. This meant that many older children were still learning in outdated buildings, lessening the successful of the reforms.
Squalor: KU
In 1945, the new towns act was launched and aimed to end the giant of Squalor. The previous houses suffered greatly from overcrowding and slum housing. By 1951, 14 new towns were built – for example, Livingston, Milton Keynes, and Glenrothes. The government owned to build 200,000 new homes every year, with a total target of 1.2 million by 1951.
These homes included modern features like central heating and indoor toilets.
Squalor: A
the majority of the new houses were council houses, meaning they could be rented at affordable prices. This greatly improved the standing of the working class in Britain and successfully prevented them from developing poverty related diseases with central heating.
