1. World War II and the Beveridge Report THE WELFARE STATE 1. World War II and the Beveridge Report

The War: Evacuation Evacuation of cities began in Sep 1939 1.5 million children were evacuated Children were mainly from poor inner-city areas 20% of Liverpool’s evacuated children had lice Many children had little knowledge of sanitary habits Neville Chamberlain felt “ashamed of having been so ignorant of [his] neighbours”

The War: equality of sacrifice Both rich and poor suffered from bombs 61,000 civilians lost their lives to bombs 4M homes were destroyed Rationing applied to everyone, regardless of social class Total war mean women and men of all classes did war work - together

The War: social security A healthy workforce was needed to help win the war State services became available to all members of society Churchill’s coalition took over in May 1940 – remember Churchill was instrumental during the Liberal reforms of 1906 - 18

Churchill’s Government Took over during Britain’s “darkest hour” Failure at Dunkirk affected Britain’s morale Labour MPs played a prominent role in Churchill’s cabinet: Attlee; Bevin; Morrison; Greenwood; Dalton and Alexander

Social Policies National Milk Scheme: set up in June ’40. Granted nursing and expectant mothers half-price milk. Eventually very poor women would be granted free milk. Provision of school milk & meals: school meals and milk became free for all pupils Immunisation: From 1941 all children could be immunised free of charge – infant mortality levels were greatly affected

Social policies (continued) State nurseries: set up so that women could return to war work Old Age & Widows’ Pensions Act: set up in 1940 to supplement the income of 3/4M Determination of Needs Act: set up in 1941 to provide benefit for those who were in poverty; means test no longer included the extended family

The Beveridge Report 1942 Officially known as the Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services Sold 635,000 copies Dealt with social issues of the time and was to help reform the social security system Aimed to put an end to the dreaded means test

Beveridge and social security The government should strive to help anyone in need, regardless of age, class or geography Every adult in the country would have to pay the same proportion of insurance tax to cover the proposed benefits scheme All insurance schemes would be combined so that there is only one monthly payment

The Five Giants Beveridge talked about the need to tackle the 5 giants but his report only dealt with want. Other problems were: Disease Idleness Ignorance Squalor

Churchill’s response Churchill was pre-occupied with winning the war The impression of the time was that the govt. did not want to discuss the Report Churchill spoke on radio about a national insurance scheme that would protect people from the “cradle to the grave” but did not mention Beveridge’s recommendations The Conservatives lost a lot of support in ’43 elections

Three White Papers White papers are proposed Bills of Parliament Educational Reconstruction (July ’43) National Health Service (Feb ’44) Social Insurance (Sep ’44) These proposals laid the principals of the Welfare State, with two becoming law before the end of WWII

The Education Act 1944 RA Butler: (Conservative – President of the Board for Education) Affected England and Wales School leaving age lifted to 15 Attendance at Primary and Secondary levels was to be compulsory Recommended that schools should be divided into grammar schools and secondary moderns School meals & milk would be provided School Medical service would be provided

Education (Scotland) Act 1946 After the Eleven Plus exam pupils would go to either a senior secondary school or a junior secondary school Reflected the persistence of social class divisions rather than creating a ‘tailored’ education

Family Allowance Act (1945) Churchill’s “caretaker” government brought in family allowance Was to prevent a drop in the birth rate Provided 5s per week for each child after the first Very small amount of money even by 1940s standards Allowance was the legal entitlement of the wife

Quotes - Historians “the Luftwaffe was a powerful missionary for the welfare state” AJP Taylor “the true freedom lay in freedom from want, from disease, from ignorance, from squalor and from idleness. Here in the totality of the vision, was the revolutionary element of the Beveridge Report” D.Fraser

Quotes - historians “All this amounted to no revolutionary proposal. The Beveridge Plan,,, rounded off and carried to their logical conclusion all the established services, but made no extravagant demands on the State.” Bruce

Quotes – civil servants & MPs “…For the rest of my life, I mean to try to make amends by helping such people [the working class] to live cleaner and healthier lives” Neville Chamberlain “The scheme here is in some ways a revolution but in more ways it is a natural development from the past” Beveridge

Quotes – civil servants/MPs “A dangerous optimism is growing up about the conditions it will be possible to establish here after the war…” Churchill “It is because we are convinced that the nation wants this plan and that the nation ought to get it, and that we can afford it, that we have put down this amendment” Griffiths (Labour)