Beveridge Report

The social welfare in the UK is very different in practice for example benefits and services are delivered at minimum level as the coverage it widespread and can be too costly or even extensive. The social protection in which the welfare state provided is irregular and unpredictable and the services are rationed very tightly. As the services have been contracted out to self-reliant providers the control over the quality and reliability of social protection had been even more difficult to maintain. (Spicker2014)

The report lead to the creation of the Welfare State that includes the National Health Services (NHS). The Beveridge report was not fully implemented by the coalition government until after the general election of 1945 that gave victory to the Labour party. The new prime minister, Clement Attlee, announced he would introduce the welfare state outlined in the 1942 Beveridge Report. The report include the establishment of a National Health Service in 1948 with free medical treatment for all. A national system of benefits was also introduced to provide 'social security' so that the population would be protected from the 'cradle to the grave'. The new system was partly built on the national insurance scheme set up by Lloyd George in 1911. People in work still had to make contributions each week, as did employers, but the benefits provided were now much greater (Bbc.co.uk, 2016).

This essay will examine how the development of the Welfare State and the NHS changed the lives of the people of Britain since its introduction in 1948. To enable me to do so, I will analyse and evaluate the key relevant aspects that happened during that period.

In conclusion the Welfare State was created on the principle that the state accepted a responsibility to protect and promote the welfare of all citizens. It must be noted that the system was designed to provide a national minimum, not reduce inequalities. I have looked in detail at all aspects to combat the “five giants “and the popular support when the Beveridge report was introduced. I have also looked at flaws in the system, however the cornerstone of the Beveridgian welfare system, was left almost untouched until the 1980’s.

You could infer that there was a high amount of people wanting the Beveridge Report to happen.

The Beveridge report was published in 1942 and is also known as the report on Social Insurance and Allied Services. It strongly influenced the founding of the welfare state. The economist William Beveridge, also a Liberal politician, was set the task of setting up a plan of post-war social reconstruction and claimed society had 5 “Giant Evils": squalor, ignorance, want (poverty), idleness (unemployment), and disease, which had to be tackled to create a better Britain. His reform was meant to address these issues within society by setting up a welfare state. The Beveridge report is the basis of the welfare state and extremely popular with the British citizens. After the war, the Labour party attempted to set up what Beveridge had suggested.

So, one may argue the creation of the welfare state is the turning point 1830-1948. The term ‘welfare state’ represented a new concept of how the state should relate to the people and was developed by the 1945 Labour government. It was heavily influenced by a report in 1942 -‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ – published by William Beveridge. The report was a response to the existing problems of poverty as he set out to attack the ‘five giants’: want, squalor, disease, ignorance and idleness. The report produced a comprehensive manifesto of social reform, proposing that the social security system cover the whole population with benefits available to support people facing any crisis disrupting their normal income: unemployment, sickness, disability, death of the

This essay will discuss the key points of the ‘Beveridge report’ (1942), and evaluate the significance of the report on the welfare state. In November 1942, William Beveridge presented a report called, ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ to parliament. This was a summary of principles to improve upon the existing welfare benefits system, to benefit working people and the population. The document proposed a new system to be operated by one governing agency, called Social Security. This would be put in place by the state after World War 2 had ended. Overall Beveridge created the most revolutionary document in our history. Beveridge has played a significant role in evolving the Welfare State over the decades. (Robinson, 2003).

The aim of this essay is to discuss and compare the British Welfare system with Germany and Sweden’s welfare systems. A welfare system is the structure of welfare provisions and services that provide a specific social need, but it is not only provided or organised solely by the government (Blakemore, 2001). It is a view that is rooted in individual exchanges between five organisations (State/Government, Market/Private Sector, Family/Kin networks, Local Communities and Civil Society). It reflects the history and cultures of different countries around the world (Haralambos, 2012). It is these providers that assume principal

This essay will consider whether the welfare state has eliminated poverty. It will examine what poverty is and how the definition varies from societies. The essay will look at the aims of the welfare state from conception and how it has changed to present times. The welfare state being analysed is the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It will discuss the nature of the social democratic welfare state and liberal criticisms of the problems this type of state brings. The recent changes to the welfare state will be reviewed and what the consequences of the changes may be. It will then look at recent statistics to determine whether the welfare state has eradicated poverty.

Social policy was introduced in the early 19th Century, post war. At this time, William Beveridge introduced the idea of a Welfare State to address poverty. He released a report for social reform known as the ‘five giants’ within society: squalor, disease, ignorance, idleness and want. The welfare state brought many positive improvements in Britain and Government passed reforms to address the poverty levels, introducing “cradle to grave “support. The National Health Service was set up which gave free health care to all and laws and Acts were put in place to help the young, the old, the sick the unemployed and the working class in times of need. The five issues raised by Beveridge

From the inauguration of state organised welfare the concepts of ‘need’ and inequality have been at the centre of discussions and debates on social policy. Since the 19th century it has widely been accepted that the state has some responsibility towards attempting to fulfil some of civil society’s needs and the needs of those most at risk. Changing definitions and attitudes surround the concepts of need and inequality; this means any discussion of these instantly encapsulates the political and ideological debates which affect all aspects of social policy. Titmuss (ed. 1987) writes that ‘collectively provided services are deliberately designed to meet certain socially recognized ‘needs’; they are manifestations’ this means any changes

This was also a time of great social reform. The introduction of the very first welfare state was something new to the nation. The welfare state was created to assist the increasing poor population that was rampant in Britain. Additionally, the gaps between the wealthy and the working class were massive, which also indicated a need for social reform .

Welfare state in a country is essential for the economic and social well-being of their citizen, this is also historically a very important achievement for the inhabitant who are supported in case of need. Welfare state is different in every nation and there are four models in Europe: the Nordic model, the Continental model, the Anglo-Saxon model and the Mediterranean model. Because of these differences it would be interesting to make a contrast between two of them, as among the Italian Welfare state and the British welfare state, in order to understand the weaknesses and strengths of both the systems.

When discussing the origins of welfare states it is easy to make an assumption that the development of welfare states was in direct response to social needs brought by industrialization and economic development. In fact the early scholarship in social policy did not question the causational effect between economic development and development of welfare states. Understanding that economic development alone cannot sufficiently explain why some countries developed into full welfare states while others did not prevail until the emergence of social democratic theory and its further expansions. Based on the later studies, the economic development was a necessary cause and played the role of creating the need and the resources for social provisions while politics was sufficient condition which determined whether social needs would be addressed though creation of welfare state of other types of social provisions.