Liberal Social Reforms
The Second Boer War
Charles Booth
The Liberal Government 1906-1914
Seebohm Rowntree
The National Insurance Act 1911
Booth was a social reporter who made a report on poverty amongst the working of class of London
It was called "Life and Labour of the people in London"
He spent time with the poor and Medical Professionals of the area
It concluded that 30% of all people in London lived in poverty
Owner of York sweet manufacturer Rowntree's. Rowntree did a report on poverty in York with Booth
Report was titled "Poverty, A study of town life"
It showed that 30% of York's population did not cross the "Poverty Line", which was a measure of how much money was needed to get out of Poverty
In 1899, Britain was angry because some farmers were refusing to leave British South African land. They were called Boer farmers and were Dutch
Between 1899 and 1902, thousands of Men volunteered to fight
However, 1/3 of these men were unfit for medical service, leaving the British government worried about what would be necessary if Britain got involved in a bigger war, E.G, with GERMANY
National Health insurance was given to workers earning less than £160 a year
NHI gave sickness benefits, maternity benefits, and free healthcare
Unemployment benefit was given in some trades, funded by worker and governmnet
Children's charter 1906 Introduced school meals.
1907 Introduced medical inspections in schools
Old age Pensions 1908 Brought in pensions which paid 25p a week to to people over 70 living below the poverty line
National Insurance Act
The 5 Giants
IDLENESS
WANT
SQUALOR
DISEASE
IGNORANCE
The Beveridge report
The committee decided there were five issues with British society. They called these the 5 Giants
Recommendations of the Report;
William Beveridge was an expert appointed to oversee a committee looking into Social Security in WWII Britain
The Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services was published in 1942 and soon became known as the Beveridge Report
Needed a system that would be available at the point of need
Non-means tested- had to be able that all could access it
Comprehensive- covering all problems poverty caused
Contributory- taken from peoples wages
Compulsory- everyone paying into the system
The NHS
People had free healthcare during the war and wanted it to continue
In the first year, the service was very popular, and great improvements were made in public health
New Hospitals followed, and diseases began to fall in number
Formed by Aneurin Bevan in 1948
Opposition
A lot of doctors were opposed as they would have preferred to charge patients individually, rather than being Government employees