Poverty in Britain
When the Liberal government came to power in 1906 they had no stated intention of government intervention of social policy. Between the years 1906 and 1914, the Liberals took steps to improve the health, living and working conditions of the groups of individuals their policies were designed for.
The victory for the Liberals was a surprising landslide which left the Liberals with 401 seats and Labour with 53 seats. Even though Labour owed their seats partly to the Liberals as they made a pact to prevent anti-Conservative votes being wasted they showed no gratitude as liberalism was about tariff reform, taxation and foreign policy but labour had always concentrated on equal
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The Liberals still had an `old' Liberal wing antagonist to social reform; and they were also conscious of the hostility to social reform of the Conservative dominated House of Lords.
The Boer war of 1899-1902highlighted the physical deterioration in the British people. The war fought to preserve the Empire. It revealed the fact that the British people were weak and unhealthy. Fears were expressed that generations of urban living, in often appalling conditions, were leading to degeneration of the national physique. Commentators pointed to the fact that Britain was the most urbanised society in the world with nine out of ten of its population living in towns and cities. The call for medical inspection and meals was sounded by the interdepartmental committee on Physical Deteriorationin 1904 but the first real enactment of the Liberal government's social policy was the 1906 provision of meals act. This act meant free school meals for children but the significance of it was it had no stigma attached, it treated all school children equally. It came under opposition from the Charity Organisation Society as they felt the supply of free school meals was inadequate and 'the want was found to be due to many different causes, and could only be removed by thorough treatment at the home.' (Charity Organisation Society;
William Beveridge was part of the war time government, after world war two he was tasked with the job of putting in place a framework for the welfare state. The aim of the report was to find out what Britain needed to take care of the basic needs of all the people and to begin to put in place a set of reforms to give every citizen of Britain a basic standard of living. Published in 1942 the Report proposed a new social security system that would provide benefits ‘from the cradle to the grave’ this would include in ideally a system of proper healthcare, sickness and unemployment benefits, family allowance and an employment policy. As well as this, the report would outline how best to tackle the five giant evils, Beveridge believed that these issues were what was standing in the way of social progress for post-war Britain. Citizens were more open to government intervention in relation to social welfare due to their increased involvement for the duration of the war, individuals became accustomed to higher taxation to help cover medical costs and services for people who had been injured by bombing and air raids. This example of free health care paved the way for creation to the NHS and made individuals more aware of the benefits of free health care. Also, due to the mixing of social classes during the second world war on the battle field and on the home front, as well as shared experiences under a common enemy many British people
Poor people were the largest amount of sufferers with small pox, polio, tuberculosis and cholera as they were unable to pay for the treatment due to the little money they had however rich people were able to afford treatment and were more likely to live longer. Squalor was for families living in homes that were too small for them and their needs. Families were made to share water facilities and the homes were difficult to keep clean. This led to infections or contagious diseases that would spread quickly around the families. People in the 21st Century still live in squalor but Beveridge could not come up with a neat administrative plan for supplementing the cost of housing. Ignorance meant people were without knowledge to make their lives better in simple ways as well as more complicated efforts. The school leaving age was 15 but children were allowed to leave at 14 under special circumstances. They did not think that an extra year would make much difference but it was thought that people who attended school longer would obtain greater skills. Reading and writing as not seen as important as people were working in factories and it was not a skill that would be used in that type of
He called it ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services.’ He stated that it would be most beneficial if the government took into consideration the citizens and gave them more protection. In 1948, the Labour Party government created three acts; the National Insurance Act, National Assistance Act, and National Health Service Act, which were all adapted from Sir William Beveridge’s report in 1942. Britain, Canada and the United States changed the roles of the authority in their country to be more involved and developed programs between the different countries corresponded to programs such as trade, international cooperation, and foreign aid. This became a trend and many other western democracies implemented these programs to their countries; they called them ‘social safety net programs’ and included programs such as employment insurance, assistance for people who are elderly, child care, and universal health care. Britain and Canadian governments developed and expanded the programs and built on legislation and initiatives that were put into place before World War II. The post World War II economic policies were a shift left. Sir William Beveridge declared in his speech that he wanted the government to advance itself and become more involved in the citizens lives and
Another major event that had an impact on the election was the retirement of Lord Salisbury who had been influential in the revival of the Conservatives and the alliance with the Unionists. Salisbury's successor, Balfour can be seen as another reason for the revival of the Liberal Party. As soon as Balfour was appointed the Unionist alliance began to break. Balfour is partly to blame for Chamberlains attempt to implement the tariff reform in 1903. Although Balfour had little to do with it he failed to stop Chamberlain putting the reform forward which
The Second World War had left a considerable impact, in its wake - homelessness, disease and casualties. Directly, it had led to the establishment of an Emergency Medical Service. Its task was to oversee the treatment of civilian bombing casualties. At this point, existing authorities such as local councils, ran the hospitals. This was within a regional framework, with each role being decided on by the Ministry of Health. The war however did not create new welfare services, but it did ‘create the political will to change the basis on which these services were offered’ (Webster, 2001) Comprehensive proposals were further pushed forward by the publication of the Beveridge Report in 1942 on Social Insurance and Allied Services. It identified the main issues that were faced by British society and endorsed the idea of a comprehensive health service. Two years later, the White Paper, ‘A National Health Service’ (February 1944) was published. The paper summarised the overall
The British people were meant to receive aid regardless of their incomes. The poor or homeless were meant to be helped and everyone was entitled to free healthcare.
During the 1880s poverty seemed to be a major concern, as surveys show that more than 25% of the population in Britain were
This lack of support became apparent in the 1906 general election in which the Conservative government (Whom had been in control of the Empire during the Boer War.) was ousted in a landslide defeat by the Liberal party. This was mainly because of the war and the effects it had on Britain. The public had been outraged at British tactics during the Second Boer War. Especially that of concentration camps, scorched earth tactics, the poisoning of wells and the burning of Boer homesteads. Therefore, the transition from a conventional to a guerrilla war caused a loss in enthusiasm amongst the British people for the Second Boer war.
Even from today’s perspective, the NHS is regarded as quite possibly “the most beneficial reform ever enacted in Britain,” (Pugh, 2017, p. 363). This revolutionary health care system paid for much of the individual’s medical needs through an increase in taxes, although private practices and hospitals were still permitted. The Welfare State also enacted similar reforms in the field of education. Free lunches became available to students in what Americans would call elementary public schools. Secondary education, such as at a university, would also be paid for by taxes, and students would also receive a grant or maintenance fee, much like a small salary in return for their studies. Within the realm of family, these social reforms also provided old age pensions and allowances for families of multiple children. Although this increase in taxation was not necessarily beneficial, the goals and achievements of the Welfare State can hardly be understated.
Paul Adelman touches upon how ‘profound social and economic changes taking place’ in Edwardian society resulted in the emergence of class-consciousness which benefitted Labour at the expense of the Liberals. Although the idea of class politics was more pronounced after the War, Ross McKibbin highlighted that there was ‘growing feeling in the country that the Liberal Party was no longer the Party of the working class’ which pre-dated the War. Indeed in 1909, the affiliation of the Miner’s Federation of Great Britain to Labour ‘formally destroyed the long standing link between the miners and the Liberal Party’. Trade unions grew at an extraordinary rate between 1888 and 1918 from 750,000 to over 6 million, and the fact that almost half of them were associated with the Labour Party further proves that the Liberal’s ambivalent attitude towards trade unionism lost them a significant support group. By 1923, the Labour Party began encroaching on the Liberal Party’s electorate in industrial areas such as South Wales, the Midlands and Scotland, leading them to their eventual in 1924. Hence, the Liberal Party’s incapability to acknowledge the importance of actively incorporating the working class into politics can be viewed as their biggest blunder, or as Geoffery Searle contends, their ‘Achilles’ Heel’. It is entirely justifiable then, that the Liberal Party would be harshly condemned for their own downfall because their inability to act upon social changes was indisputably a fault of their own. As a result of these faults, Liberal Party led themselves to be inevitably and fully replaced by 1924 when the Labour Party, led by Ramsay Macdonald, took
In the early 20th century, it was difficult to get enough recruits that were in good health ready to fight in the Boer war. Many of the volunteers were underweight, had bad eyesight or deformities caused by rickets and insufficient nutrition. With this situation, the health of the people was of great concern. In 1948, the NHS (National Health Service) was created in order to meet the needs of everyone in the society and provided to the people without charges. It was initially created in order to provide a better health care system for workers who took part in the war. In order to create a healthier community as a whole, the government decided to focus on the health of children. This was done by making sure children had nutritional meals and
The major issues that led to Labour needing the rebranding are the identity crisis and actions taken against the working class. Throughout the span of the Labour party in the 1900’s a dual identity crisis was present, due to the fact that, middle class intellectuals were leading the party rather than actual working class individuals. During the Great Depression, the party was advised to cut unemployment benefits. This was an economic move
After the war, the society in Britain was flowing through an enormous social change. The new labor party in Britain became crucial for the Britain’s. Although, Britain was bankrupted after the war, the new labor party provided the reformation on the main essentinal intuitions such as railways, mining, road and air traffic, electricity, petrol and the Bank of England. It developed into an economic growth in Britain, now that the markets slowly recovered from the war crisis and there were also still supply of raw materials left from former colonies. In addition to this, it was a falling birth rate and the households turned smaller and richer. Normal households could afford equipment of higher quality and it became a normal sight to notice families owning a car, spending holidays abroad and buying new mortgage loans for their house. This was a giant step in the right direction and the life of the Britain’s was becoming easier.
Social workers today work in these sectors. Beveridge thought that to protect society’s welfare the state should have a central role in ensuring that individuals have all the resources they need. For example food, water, shelter, medical care. Therefore the state would be the main provider of services. Although funding would be done through national insurance payments from every citizen meaning that some of the funding would be paid by the pubic. In 1945 the labour party won the election and took over from Churchill. Labour wanted to build a welfare state from contributions and solidarity. Not long after in 1948 the National Health Service was introduced. The NHS gave individuals in society the chance to receive free health care at the point of use. It meant that for the first time families, individuals and children did not have to pay for medical care.
In the 19th century, discussions were held on the availability of health care for the poorest. At the time visit of the doctors, or stay in the hospital were very expensive and only the rich could afford a specialized treatment .At the end of the war, the Labour party took power in Britain. In 1945 a proposal was for the nationalization of all hospitals.Despite the severe opposition on July