 Today social services are taken as given by most Britons, but they were actually acknowledged as social support for citizens only in the 1940s.  Social services deal with all main possible people’s problems such as health, unemployment, retirement, disability, household etc.  Health care may represent the most developed and complex governmental achievement in this field, named: National Health Service.

 First hints of social help for citizens in troubles may be traced back to the Middle Ages, where only churches provided a basic support for the poorer.  Under queen Elizabeth I’s reign, the Poor Law was established to help the needy.  During the Industrial Revolution period, human conditions became harsher because of the work in factories.

 The exploitation of the workforce created many health problems also connected to the poor hygienic conditions of the slums where most workers were bound to live.  The spread of epidemics forced the government to legislate a new law: the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834 in order to reduce taxes and guarantee some social relief to the disadvantaged.  A system of workhouses was also created to provide lodgings for the indigent. However these places were very disagreeable.

 More awareness of social problems at the first decades of the 19° century got the situation better.  Reform programmes were introduced to re-organize health, pensions and the employment system.  The new model of welfare underlined the importance to establish a national insurance scheme in order to protect workers at the end of their activity with some benefits.

Household  Current statistics outline Britain as a country characterized by significant social changes.  Particularly concerning household, an ever increasing number of people decide to live alone.  First marriages are generally celebrated in a church while most remarriages are civil.  There is a high percentage of divorce and a single mother is not considered a taboo anymore.

 Cohabiting couples (of the same gender too) now compensate the decline of marriage and are the picture of the most modern lifestyle.  Household constitutes a fundamental topic of any government policy.  In this respect, the Working Family Tax Credit as well as a Child Tax Credit provide some financial help based upon income.

 In the past grants and loans were more easily released to families in need.  Nowadays any fund is instead applied more restrictively to prevent fraud.  The organization of state pensions and the distribution of welfare benefits always represent an uneasy task for any government.  The Conservative and the Labour show two opposite orientations towards this matter: the former emphasize the importance of personal responsibilty in the search of social needs to reduce public cost.  The latter believe in the introduction of other riforms to help families, reduce unemployment and poverty.