Wlefare State

Question 1

National insurance details/aims

Answer 1

• beveridge wanted all benefits to be administered by the ministry of national insurance
• all contributions for health, unemployment, accidents and pensions etc should be unified into one singular payment
• everyone would be entitled to state benefits as of right- AVOIDING NEED FOR MEANS TEST
• family allowances act - 1945, mothers paid 25p for for each child after the first, and other children up to the age of 15
• first allowances paid in aug 1946
• targeted at reducing child poverty and designed to help working class families with the cost of raising children
• marked the beginning of the welfare state in Britain, acknowledging the states responsibility to support children and families- setting a precedent for future social security measures
• 2.5 million families took up allowance- £59 million in costs by 1947
• national insurance act extended 1911 act to cover all adults, comprehensive system covering unemployment, sickness, maternity, pensions and death grants
• worker entitled to more comprehensive system of benefits

Question 2

National insurance limitations

Answer 2

• insufficient redistribution of wealth for the very poor
• the value of money payed to families- e.g in the family allowances act was not indexed- so it did not fluctuate with the economy
• in periods of prolonged economic downturn as a result of cripps austerity programme and even the bad winter of 1946-1947, the value was not sufficient enough to cover costs
• value paid to mothers was taxable
• did not eliminate poverty, 1000s of old peoples only incomes was the non-contributory pension of 10s a week
• married women and self employed were excluded from the scheme

Question 3

Health/NHS proposals

Answer 3

• national health act passed in 1946, came into operation in 1948
• system entitled everybody, irrespective of circumstance, to free healthcare from GP’s, specialists and dentists
• poor people who had suffered from poor conditions were now relieved

Question 4

NHS successes

Answer 4

• flood of demands for prescriptions- initially free
• total of 187 million were issued between 1948-1949
• illnesses involving malnutrition, rickets were rare, and loss of life from TB and pneumonia and diphtheria was considerably reduced
• infant mortality fell by 50% by the mid 1950’s
• NHS allowed antibiotics, which substantially reduced death from infection
• social divisions between classes who could and couldn’t see a doctor were reduced
• children given cod liver oil and milk

Question 5

NHS weaknesses

Answer 5

• initially planned to cost £140 million a year, this figure rose to £358 million by 1950
• there was opposition from doctors, who saw this as a threat to their profession and its status
• there was not enough doctors, nurses or hospital buildings for a comprehensive, nationwide health care system to be carried out
• 1951- rearmament and around $4700 billion spent in 3 years for the Korean War due to Marshall aid, meant that prescription charges and dental charges had to be introduced
• gaitskell and bevan disagreed with this
• led to bevan resigning as he felt this fundamentally disagreed with the principles of the welfare state and saw it as a betrayal of working class interests

Question 6

Education aims

Answer 6

• butlers education act already part of law
• Ellen Wilkinson
• 1944 education act- accommodation for new schools was provided
• nearly 1000 new primary schools constructed by the late 1940’s
• labour worked with university grants committee to expand uni places to meet the demand of those returning from war
• student numbers expanded from 50,000 to 77,000 by 1949
• act made secondary education until 15 free, provided meals, milk and medical services at schools
• bridged the class divide in education
• butlers education act- raised school leaving age to 15, created a tripartite structure, 11+ exams, allocated to grammar, secondary modern or technical schools
• success= more literate population, greater social mobility due to being more educated

Question 7

Education limitations

Answer 7

• implications of the tripartite system from the 1944 act- deprivation of the working class children who had the ability, it hadn’t been in education long enough to excel in exam
• soon became clear that the 11 plus favoured children from middle class homes- familiar with literacy
• did not take on public schools, creating a divisive two tier system which is claimed to have maintained privilege ad undermined the system of a truly meritocratic classless society

Question 8

Housing

Answer 8

• housing shortage in 1939 due to bombing was severe- country short of an estimated 1.25 million homes
• bevan exceeded Churchills promise of 1945 of 750,000 million homes
• new towns act of 1946- gave the government power to decide where new towns should be built, created green belts
• e.g. there was the creation of 14 new towns such as Stevenage between 1946 and 1950.
• people were encouraged to move out of the cities and into new towns to reduce the problem of over crowding
• town and country planning act- 1947 local authorities required planning permission from owners to decide how land was going to be used in the future, and increased their power to preserve historical buildings

Question 9

Housing problems

Answer 9

• shortage of building materials- expensive and labour was in short supply
• housing also came under bevans ministry of health- this was too much for one man and was often run inadequately
• ratio of council to private houses was 4:1, which may have been a mistake as it limited the overall number of houses built and held back the private industry
• hosuebuilding slow to progress- only 55,000 new houses completed in 1946
• between 1940-1951, and average of 200,000 houses were built per year
• the pace of construction could not keep up with the demand for new housing

Question 10

Overall judgement of welfare state

Answer 10

• British government made profound and long lasting contributions to the creation of the British welfare state
• it fundamentally reshaped the relationship between the individual and the state and made progressive acknowledgments of the states responsibility for the welfare of its civilians
• through the implementation of key legislation such as the families allowances act, town and country planning act, national insurance and the founding of the national health service, labour institutionalised a system of universal provision that tackled many of the social inequalities which had been exposed following ww2
• in this sense, labour can widely be credited by establishing a welfare state.
• however, the broader vision of a fully egalitarian society was only partially realised
• persistent class divisions as a result of the tripartite system and the failure to index benefits from national insurance meant that poverty still existed
• ultimately, whilst labour fell short of creating a utopian society, it succeeded in institutionalising a framework of welfare provision that marked a significant break from the past.
• its legacy lies not in the complete fulfilment of the new Jerusalem ideal, but in the durable foundations it laid for a more exclusive and socially responsible state.