social welfare Flashcards

1
Q

what was social welfare like before 1918?

A

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.

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2
Q

what occurred between 1900-1918?

A

a shift in the political consensus regarding welfare and its importance - more investment went into it.

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3
Q

national insurance act ? 1920

A

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

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4
Q

what was different about the 1920 national insurance act?

A

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.

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5
Q

what reasons justified the increased government spending on welfare during the post WW1 period?

A
  • 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.

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6
Q

what was one of the reasons for the national government forming in 1931?

A

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.

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7
Q

what act was passed in 1931 that was extremely unpopular?

A

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.

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8
Q

what was the unemployment act 1934?

A

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.

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9
Q

what happened to unemployment in 1939?

A

in fell from 3 million in 1933 to under 1.4 million in 1939

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10
Q

what happened to the welfare system post WW2

A

it continued to increase - the Beveridge report 1942 was published offering a more socially equal society.

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11
Q

how did rationing make people feel more equal in society?

A

people were eating healthier

everyone was restricted to the same amount

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12
Q

how did evacuation make people feel more equal in society?

A

middle and upper classes empathised with what life was like for working class families.

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13
Q

what was the 1942 Beveridge report?

A

it was a report establishing the “5 evils in society” squalor, ignorance, idleness, want, disease

advocated universal rights.

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14
Q

how did the public and government react to the report?

A

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.

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15
Q

what happened in the 1945 election?

A

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.

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16
Q

what was the family allowance act ?

A

1945 and it allowed 25p a week to each child and the money went directly to the mother. - first benefits for children.

17
Q

what was the national insurance act ?

A

1946 - made workers pay 25p a week and created a state pension.

18
Q

what was the national assistance act ?

A

1948 - this covered anyone who wasn’t covered by the national insurance act (unmarried mothers, homeless, disabled).

19
Q

what was industrial injuries act ?

A

1946 - allowed works to be able to claim compensation if they injured themselves at work, due to the amount of deaths that occurred every year due to work place accidents.

20
Q

when was the NHS created?

A

1948

21
Q

was there a consensus hargarding welfare between 1945-64?

A

yes, Harold Macmillan wrote a book called the “middle way” about

22
Q

what happened during the 1964 general election?

A

labour won, harold wilson promised to continue increasing welfare investment. however his chancellor james callaghan discovered an £800 budget defecit which was left by cons gov.

23
Q

what did wilson do to deal with the problems with increased spending.

A

he carried on spending but increased taxes massively

24
Q

what was the National insurance act passed by Edward Heath?

A

1970 and it extended welfare in numerous ways:

  • it gave pensions to 100,000 people who had not been covered by 1948 national assistance act
  • introduced an allowence for people who needed long term care
  • invalidity benefit for (special needs)
  • increased child allowence to mothers
  • gave rent subsidies for low income earners
25
Q

what right wing challenges did Edward heath face ?

A
  • conservatives such as Sir Kieth Joseph argued that the welfare state was leading to a reduction of individual freedom
  • believed it was taking money from citezens to poor citizens
  • growth in taxes reduced freedom for the wealthy
26
Q

what was said about welfare and effeciency?

A
  • Joseph and right-wingers at the the think tank institute of economicc affairs
  • argued that the gov would always spend money less effeciently than private businesses.
  • this was due to him believing that they made profit therefore they have to be money effecient
27
Q

welfare and inflation?

A
  • they claimed that welfare spending had a relationship with inflation
  • Joseph claimed that welfare spending caused lots of gov borrowing
  • ## this increasing the amount of money in the economy causing it to be worth less and increasing inflation
28
Q

welfare and dependecy?

A
  • supposed link between welfare and dependency

- created a dependency culture, suggesting benefits and welfare payments encourgaged people to live on benefits.

29
Q

when did the welfare state come under increasing amounts of pressure?

A

1970’s following Heath’s faillure to win tge election of 1974
- Thathcer led a new generation of cons who no longer wanted a consensus.

30
Q

what did the new cons leadership do?

A
  • attack Wilson’s policies e.g.
  • 25% rise in pensions 1974
  • invalid care allowence 1975
  • universal child benefit 1975
    wilson sought to pay for these policies through tax from high earners
31
Q

who continued to develop Harold Wilson’s welfare policies?

A

James Callaghan, 1976

- including new pensions rights in the Supplementary benefits act 1976

32
Q

what the IMF cuts?

A

1976 the first major cuts began in gov spending when IMF insisted on it in return for a loan of $4 billion
- the gov made £2.5 billion in cuts

33
Q

what opponents to welfare were there? (70’s)

A
  • much of the press e.g. Telegraph and the times
  • growing number of affluent and middle class members of society saw welfare as a problem during the 70’s
  • due to the people growing up in the 60’s and 70’s were less inclined to follow the idea of collectivism that had emerged from the second world war.
34
Q

how much did the % of social welfare making up GDP rise to in 1950’s?

A
  • 3-4%