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History > U2 - The Labour Reforms of 1945-51 > Flashcards

U2 - The Labour Reforms of 1945-51 Flashcards

1
Q

RECAP: The situation in Britain during WW2

A
  • Throughout WW2 Britain was run by a coalition Government made up of Liberal, Labour and Conservative politicians
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2
Q

1945 Election

A

Labour: 393 seats - 47.8%
Conservatives: 213 seats - 39.8%
Liberals: 13 seats
Others: 45 seats

Landslide 1st ever Labour majority

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3
Q

Five Giants

A
  • Want
  • Ignorance
  • Disease
  • Squalor
  • Idleness
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4
Q

Want Acts

A
  • The Family Allowance Act 1946
  • Industrial Injuries Act 1946
  • National Assistance Act 1948
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5
Q

Want - The Family Allowance Act 1946

A
  • Passed by wartime coalition government
  • 5s per week was to be given for each children after the first
  • Legal entitlement of the mother not the father
  • The amount was very small, even for 1945 standards
  • Hoped that it would help to keep wage demand down
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6
Q

Want - Industrial Injuries Act 1946

A
  • Compulsory for all workers
  • Paid through contributions by workers and employers
  • Applied to anyone injured at work
  • Benefit for 6 months
  • If the injury lasted beyond the person was entitled to a pension
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7
Q

Want - National Insurance Act 1946

A
  • Compulsory for all workers
  • Covered sickness and unemployment benefits, maternity benefits, widow and guardian benefits, old age and a death grant
  • Act would pay for itself as long as unemployment was less than 8.5%
  • Ministry of National Insurance set up: 40,000 civil servants to run the system (determined to work)
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8
Q

Want - National Assistance Act 1948

A
  • Covered those who couldn’t afford to make insurance contributions e.g unemployed, low wages or handicapped
  • The main claimant had to pass a ‘Needs Test’
  • Payments were low: could be a weekly or one-off payment
  • This act did away with the workhouse
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9
Q

Criticisms of Social Security (WANT) - negative

A
  • Benefit levels were fixed for 5 years but prices rose (inflation) and money was worth less
  • Benefits were only 19% of an average wage and not enough to keep people above the poverty line
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10
Q

Criticisms of Social Security (WANT) - positive

A
  • The population was covered from the ‘cradle to the grave’
  • If people were in need the government would be there to help
  • Poverty was reduced but not eliminated
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11
Q

Want - Analysis/EV

A
  • Collectively acts did provide care from ‘Cradle to the grave’
  • Did away with the poorhouse
  • However government rejected Beveridge’s principle and benefits were low
  • National Assistance was meant to be a safety net ended up being relied on than anticipated
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12
Q

Ignorance - Butler’s Education Act 1944

Who implemented it

A
  • Labour implemented this act passed by the wartime coalition
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13
Q

Ignorance - Butler’s Education Act 1944

Most important terms of the act

A
  1. The school leaving age to be 15 and then 16 as soon as possible (16 didn’t happen until 1972)
  2. There were to be 3 stages of education - Nursery, Primary and Secondary - P & S were compulsory and free
  3. Pupils to sit an examination at 11 in England (the 11-plus) or 12 in Scotland (the ‘qualy’). The result would determine which type of secondary school they’d go to
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14
Q

Ignorance - Butler’s Education Act 1944

Most important terms of the act - Examination passed

A
  • Go to a grammar school (England)

- A senior secondary school or an academic education (Scotland)

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15
Q

Ignorance - Butler’s Education Act 1944

Most important terms of the act - Examination failed

A
  • Go to a secondary modern school (England)
  • Junior secondary (Scotland)
  • These are for more practical education
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16
Q

Ignorance - School Building

A
  • School building programme was a priority because:
    a) Many schools had been damaged or destroyed during the war
    b) The school leaving age was raised and secondary education was made compulsory
17
Q

Ignorance - School Building - Stats

A
  • By 1950, 1,176 schools had been built or were under construction
18
Q

Ignorance - Analysis/EV

A
  • The schools built a two-tier system
  • It was clear that a first-rate, second-rate structure had been put in place
  • Created divisions in society as a whole
  • Did not suit late developers
  • Labour didn’t address the educational needs of working-class children
19
Q

Squalor - Housing

A
  • There was a shortage of construction workers and a shortage/high cost of building materials
  • Aneurin Bevan was charge of the Ministry of Health which had responsibility for Housing
  • First priority was to house the homeless
  • Government continued with the war-time policy of putting up ‘pre-fabricated’ homes
  • Prefabs were ready made factory built houses that would be put up quickly
20
Q

Squalor - Housing Stats

A
  • Major housing shortages at the end of the war - 700,000 had been destroyed
  • In Scotland alone 469,000 new homes were needed
  • 1/3 of all houses were in need of repair and renovation
  • 157,000 prefabs were built- they were used for much longer than was originally planned
21
Q

Squalor - New Towns Act, 1946

A
  • Act tried to solve the problem of overcrowding in cities by planning new communities
  • 12 new towns including Glenrothes and East Kilbride in Scotland were planned
  • New towns were carefully planned out Industrial areas would be built away from housing areas
  • Communities would have schools, shops and leisure facilities
22
Q

Squalor - Town and Country Planning Act, 1947

A
  • Local authorities could buy land for building low cost homes
  • Local authorities received a 75% subsidy for building council houses
  • Poor housing and homelessness were still serious problems
23
Q

Squalor - Town and Country Planning Act, 1947 Stats

A
  • By 1951 700,000 houses had been built but there was still a shortage of 750,000 homes
24
Q

Squalor Overall - Good

A
  • Prefabs provided temporary housing
  • 700,000 council houses built
  • 12 New Towns designed and built
  • A great deal achieved despite shortages of workers materials
25
Q

Squalor Overall - Bad

A
  • Many prefabs were used much longer than planned
  • Government did not create a separate Ministry of Housing
  • 750,000 homes still needed
  • Homelessness and poor housing continued
26
Q

Squalor - Analysis/Ev

A
  • Continued hosing shortage was one of the main reasons Labour lost in 1951 election
  • 1951 census showed that there was still 750,000 houses needed
  • Labours house-building does not compare well with previous governments from 1930s
  • However given the social and economic circumstances (WAR) - the shortage of building materials and skilled workers: shouldn’t be judged harshly
27
Q

Idleness - Unemployment

A
  • Unemployment rose from 1945-47 when demobilised service men and woman came home
  • Unemployment peaked at 480,000 then fell
  • Unemployment never returned to the massive levels of the 1930s
28
Q

Idleness - Quote

A
  • The Labour Chancellor Hugh Dalton described low unemployment as “the greatest revolution brought about by the Labour Government
29
Q

Idleness - Labour deserve some credit for:

A
  • Negotiating Marshal Aid form the USA and using this money to subsidise the rebuilding of Britain’s infrastructure creating jobs
  • Nationalising certain industries (coal, electricity, steel, gas, railways and Bank of England): although did more to protest than create jobs - NCR and TimeX (Dundee): Created thousands of jobs
30
Q

Idleness - Many reasons for unemployment that were not Labours fault

A
  • The ‘Baby Boom’ removed woman from the workforce

- Export industries boomed (cars, motorcycles, chemicals) created many jobs

31
Q

Idleness - Analysis/Ev

A
  • Unemployment remained low: especially compared to the 1930s
  • Hugh Daltons Quote
  • Low unemployment is due to a mixture of Gov policies, private industry, local councils and the Baby Boom
32
Q

Disease - The NHS 1946

A
  • Act was passed in 1946 and implemented on the ‘Appointed Day’ - 5 July 1948
  • Aneurin Bevan was Minister for Health and Housing
33
Q

Disease - The NHS 1946 Stats

A
  • 9% of funding for the NHS came from National Insurance the rest from taxation
  • At first 2/3 of doctors were opposed to the scheme: Beveridge allowed them to keep their private patients and get a fee per patient
  • By 1950 the NHS cost was 358m
34
Q

Disease - Free and provided:

A
  • GPs
  • Specialist treatment
  • Hospital treatment
  • Dentists
  • Opticians
  • Prescriptions
35
Q

Disease - What had to be put into place in 1951?

A
  • Charges for prescriptions, dental care and eye care (PET charges)
  • Bevan resigned when this happened
36
Q

Disease - Analysis/Ev

A
  • Hugely successful reform
  • Big demand for NHS after 1948 suggests how much it was needed
  • Expenses of NHS came as a shock (358m)
  • PET charges had to be introduced due to post-war economy
  • Bevan resigned
  • R.C. Birch quote
37
Q

Disease - R.C. Birch quote

A
  • “arguable the biggest single achievement in the story of the welfare state” R.C. Birch

History (11 decks)

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