What Did the Labour Government do?

1. What Did the Labour Government do? 1945-51

2. Beveridge Report • William Beveridge – Economist and Social Reformer. • Famed for writing the Beveridge report • The Beveridge Report was the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services chaired by William Beveridge.

3. Recommendations • 1. Proposals for the future should not limited by "sectional interests" in learning from experience and that a "revolutionary moment in the world's history is a time for revolutions, not for patching".

4. 2. Social insurance is only one part of a "comprehensive policy of social progress". The five giants on the road to reconstruction were Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.

5. 3. Policies of social security "must be achieved by co-operation between the State and the individual", with the state securing the service and contributions. The state " should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family".

8. The British people hoped that “post-war would be better than pre-war”

9. 5 Giants of the Beveridge Report • WANT (poverty) • DISEASE (bad health) • SQUALOR (bad housing) • IGNORANCE (poor education) • IDLENESS (unemployment)

10. Beveridge said • “this is a time for revolution not patching” • Universal welfare plan that should cover the whole population of the country.

11. Acts passed during the War • Education Act 1944 • All children over the age of 11 should receive a separate secondary free of charge and that the school-leaving age would be raised to 15 as soon as possible.

12. Family Allowances Act of 1945 • Coalition Measure introduced a child allowance of 5 shillings a week (25p) for the second and all subsequent children regardless of family income.

13. Labour Tackling the 5 Giants

14. WANT • The main social problem to tackle • 1946 National Insurance Act created the structure of the welfare state. • Extended the 1911 National Insurance Act to cover all adults and also put into operation a comprehensive National Health Service.

15. Compulsory contributory scheme for each worker and in return for the weekly contribution from workers, employers and government, an individual was entitled to sickness and unemployment benefit. • Pensions for women at 60 • Pensions for men at 65 • Widows and Orphans’ pensions • Maternity and Death Grants

16. Quote • James Griffiths, Minister of National Insurance • “The best and cheapest insurance policy offered to the British people, of any people anywhere”

17. Problems with Pensions • The Pensions were still not enough to live on. • Value of pensions reduced by inflation • Pensions levels remained below basic subsistence levels.

18. National Assistance Board • Helped people not in work or who had not paid enough contributions to qualify for full benefit. • People in need could apply for further assistance from the national assistance board. • Applicants were means tested but not the same as the draconic means testing of the 1930s • Money provided by Government from central taxation. • Government also required local authorities to provide homes and other welfare services for the Elderly and handicapped.

19. Purpose • To provide a whole new social security structure and really did provide a safety net through which no person should fall into serious poverty.

20. Family Allowance Act • Attack household poverty. • Started by the wartime government • Small amount of money paid to all mothers of two or more children. • Money paid to the mothers and not the fathers • Not means tested

21. Industrial Injuries Act 1946 • Compensation paid by the government , not individual employers and all workers were covered.

22. Summary of Want • Almost 50 years earlier, Seebohm Rowntree had identified old age, sickness, injury at work and unemployment as the main causes of poverty. • Labour had directly attacked these problems and provided help and assurance to many and in doing so removed the fear of falling into serious long-term poverty.

23. DISEASE • Most people consider the greatest achievement of the post-war Labour Government to be the creation of a National Health Service.

24. 3 Aims • UNIVERSAL ACCESS • NHS was for everybody • Regardless of Class and income

25. Comprehensive • Meeting all demands • Treating all medical problems

26. Free at the point of use • No patient would be asked to pay for any treatment

27. Funded • The service was and is paid for by the taxation and National Insurance payments made by every worker ORDINARY WORKER PAYS TAX FUNDS NHS

28. Before NHS • Healthcare had to be paid for • About ½ the male workforce was entitled to assistance through various insurance schemes • Wives and families did not qualify • Many families had no insurance and had to rely on support from friends, neighbours or local charities.

29. Services Offered • Offered free health care at the point of need • Everybody was entitled to • GPs • Specialists • Dentists • Spectacles • False Teeth • Maternity and Child Welfare Services

30. Opposition • At first opposition came from Doctors • “Being treated like civil servants” • Would end the Gravy train of private healthcare

31. Aneurin Bevan • Minister for Health • Responsible for establishing the NHS • Defused the situation with a new payment to doctors

32. Results of the NHS • Even though there was opposition to the NHS, ordinary people celebrated the arrival of the NHS

33. The new NHS was inundated with a backlog of untreated problems. • Doctors, dentists and opticians were flooded with patients

34. Prescriptions rose from 5 million a month before the NHS to 13.5 million in September 1948 • In the first year 5,000,000 spectacles were dispensed • 8,000,000 dental patients were treated

35. Spiralling Cost • Victim of its own success • Became an ENORMOUS EXPENSE • National Insurance only contributed 9% of NHS funding in 1949. • The rest coming from general taxation.

36. Charges • By 1950 the NHS was costing £358 milliona year • The Labour Government were forced to BACKTRACK on the principle of a free Service by introducing charges for spectacles and dental treatment

37. The Government was also constrained (limited) by the economy still recovering from the war.

38. Conclusion of the NHS • Despite criticism, compromises and constraints the NHS was arguably “The greatest single achievement in the story of the welfare state”

39. Education

40. Beveridge Report • Beveridge made clear his desire for an education system available to all, especially the poor, which would provide opportunities and develop talent.

41. Problems with Education • Before 1939 Education services varied across the country. • The quality of secondary education was variable • Many children received no education past primary stage and poorer parents could not afford the fees that some secondary schools charged. • Scholarship did exist but pressure to leave school and bring in wages was very high.

42. Education Act 1944 • Also know as the Butler Act • Main idea was equality of opportunity • Allowing working class children with ability to progress as far as they could without being restricted by the demands to pay expensive fees. • However in reality the Act was rather different from its original aims.

43. Butler believed that the future of Britain’s strength and Wealth lay in ScienceTechnical

44. Butlers idea • Three level education system • Technical • Grammar • Secondary modern • In Scotland the last two were normally called senior and Junior secondary.

45. Originally each type of school would have equal status. • In reality though it was not the case.

46. Which School • All children sat an exam at 11 • Called the 11+ exam or Qualy in Scotland • Decided the type of school a child went to. • Those who passed went to a senior secondary school and were expected to leave school after 15, go on to university or get jobs in management and the professions.

47. Fail? • Junior secondary • Leave school at 15 • Enter an unskilled job • By failing the 11+, thousands of children were trapped in a world of low expectations and inferior education.

48. Success or Failure • There was a small increase in the proportion of working class boys at grammar school but the real benefits lay with the middle classes. • Grammar schools and senior secondary's were given far more government spending than junior secondary moderns.

49. 11+ exam was socially divisive and highly contentious selection procedure. • Secondary modern became the ‘inferior’ partner offering little in the way of opportunities to children. • Many children were classified as non-academic as grammar schools could only take about 20% of children.

50. Lack of Understanding • Never really understood the need for a tight control of educational policy. • Some of the leaders such as Attlee, Dalton, Cripps all went to Public School. • Little understanding of state system • Others like Bevin, Morrison and Shinwell had little formal education. • Tomlinson who became Minister of Education in 1947 left school at 12.