Labour welfare reforms 1945-1951 Flashcards
what were the 5 aspects Beveridge addressed in his report?
want
squalor
idleness
ignorance
disease
what reforms were introduced to help want?
1946 National Insurance Act
National Asisstance board
Family Allowance Act
what improvement were the to help want?
Insurance covered all adults and meant that everyone was entitled to sickness and unemployment benefits and made pensions available for women at 60 and men at 65
NAB helped people struggling qualify for full benefits. made new social security structure and provided a safety net. removed fear
family allowance act meant that a small amount of money was paid to mothers and was not means tested
what limitations were there to want?
pensions were not enough to live on
value of pensions reduced by inflation
remained below basic subsistence levels - 19% of average wage
what was the long term situation for want?
labour tackled problems discovered by Rowntree
removed fear of falling into poverty
what reforms were introduced to help squalor?
1949 housing act
new towns act 1946
what were the improvements in squalor?
1945-1951, 4 council houses were built for every private house
these houses had electricity and windows …
pre-fabricated homes done as a short term solution which were very popular
councils bought old houses and repaired them
gov could decide where to build towns to stop overpopualtion in cities
built 12 new towns
eg Stevenage
what were the limitations in squalor?
economic conditions
lack of raw material s
lack of builders
didn’t meet 200,000/year target until 1948
seen as less successful than Macmillan in 1950 who built 300,000
shortage forced families to take refuge in disused army camps
overpopualtion after baby boom
what were the long term situation of squalor?
set foundations for standard and number of housing as gov responsibility
what reforms were there to stop idleness?
1944 white paper suggesting full employment
nationalisation of heavy industries and bank of england
what were the successes of stopping idleness?
1946 unemployment was at 2.46%
kept interest rates down and controlled inflation w rationing
demobilisation didn’t disrupt economic recovery
NE coastal areas - unemployment was only 38%
devalued the £ and helped export industry
avg real wage 20% higher in 1949 than 1938
what were the limitations in stopping idleness?
winter of 1947 caused rise of unemployment to be nearly 1 mil
but probably would have happened anyway
what was the long term situation in stopping idleness?
Dalton said “greatest revolution brought from a Labour government”
but
may have happened anyway
what reforms were brought in to stop ignorance?
Butler’s Education Act 1944
what were the successes in stopping ignorance?
created grammar, secondary modern and technical schools depending on how you did in 11+ exams
middle class benefitted
school leaving age rose
