Labour Reforms Assessment Essay

Labour Reforms Assessment Introduction You need a couple of sentences to put the issue in context. Key words to use are Labour Beveridge 1945 Election

Labour Reforms Assessment Introduction I need to be told the giants that the Labour Party attacked. Want Disease Ignorance Squalor Idleness General

Labour Reforms Assessment Introduction Finally I need to be told how you will deal with each group. What was done What worked What could have been done better

Labour Reforms Assessment Historiography I need to be told that this is still a live issue which historians disagree If you can find quotes good. The 3 possible arguments are :- They were successful They were not successful They did as well as they could have in the circumstances.

Want Want: lack of money which will push you into poverty What was done: National Insurance Act 1946 Insurance based From cradle to grave Whole work force covered

Want Successes National Insurance Act 1946 Comprehensive Universal Reaches subsistence level

Want Failures Bureaucratic Inflation eats benefits Contributions 5% of wages Not full benefits for 10 years Restricted to 156 weekly contributions

Want National Assistance 1948 Successes Safety net for those not covered Finishes Poor Law Needs test less stringent

Want National Assistance 1948 Failures The main failure of this Act was to put a new scheme in rather than absorb the costs into the National Insurance Act.

Want Family Allowance Act Industrial Injuries Act 1946 Not means tested Paid to mother No real failures Industrial Injuries Act 1946 Paid by Government All workers covered

Disease National Health Service Act 1946 If you are ill you can’t work and will fall into poverty. This was to provide a comprehensive universal national standard of care which was free at the point of need.

Disease Successes The uptake of services showed the need. It was cheaper than other countries as a result of economies of scale.

Disease Failures The main one you must mention is the cost. This leads to a retreat from free at the point of need. 1950 Glasses and dental treatment charged. National standard of care compromised at start. Pay beds in hospitals Middle class gain disproportionately

Ignorance The way to look at this section is that practical measures such as rebuilding schools and training teachers was successful but the educational theory failed. Rebuilding schools: 1176 schools built 928 primary schools. Teachers: 35000 teachers trained

Ignorance Education Act 1944 This Act increased the school leaving age to 15. it also started grants for higher education. It was designed to send children to the best type of school for their abilities Grammar Schools for academic Technical Schools for skilled Junior Secondaries for Workforce

Ignorance Education Act 1944 The problem was that to decide which type of school a test was given at age 11 which is far too young. The result of this test was final. If you failed you went to a Junior secondary with no chance of later advancement.

Ignorance Education Act 1944 To make this worse Technical schools never took off and 20% of people got to Grammar schools and the rest were dumped in Junior Secondaries. Also the middle class gained disproportionately as they no longer had to pay for Grammar School.

Squalor Rebuilding Programme Prefab houses Council Estates New Towns Act 1946 The main problem was that although they built a lot of houses they could not keep up with the amount they had promised.

Squalor The other problem was that they tagged it on to Bevan’s remit and he was fully involved in setting up the National Health Service. It deserved its own Ministry. Bevan’s character as a socialist was also important. He disagreed with houses being built for profit and built 4 council houses for each private house. He also concentrated on quality houses rather than quantity.

Squalor Finally the New Towns were designed to have their own industries but in practice became dormitory towns for the major cities.

Idleness The key thing about this issue is that there was plenty work needing done. Plenty people willing to work and enough money from America to pay them so unemployment would have probably been low even if Labour did nothing.

Idleness The two main things they did were to introduce Keynesian Economics which concentrated on employment rather than profit. This worked in the short term but made factories less competitive and built up problems for the future.

Idleness Nationalisation They took oversome of the main industries and ran them for the country. This did not give a better service or help workers. It also gave Trade Unions a lort of power and they aske for high wages which caused inflation.

General All giants were targeted by an inexperienced government Proactive in the face of difficult conditions. Rowntree showed 36% poverty in 1936 2% by 1950. However they could have Improved the economy first. Also the Middle class gained most

Conclusion Sum up the giants. Want – Successful Disease – Successful but expensive. Ignorance – Successful in practical issues but a failure in theory. Squalor – a qualified success but they promised too much Idleness – Probably didn’t need to do anything and what they did built up problems for the future

Conclusion Finally make a decision. They probably did as much as they could in the face of Britain’s problems and the winter of 1947.