1. The extent of change in society 1880-1951
His Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services was published in December 1942 and it created much public interest at the time. It was this report that had such a large influence on Labour's reforms after In essence, Beveridge advocated that all people in work would pay a single weekly flat rate contribution into the state insurance fund. This would cover all possible contingencies that might befall people throughout their lives. In return for these contributions, a new Ministry of Social Security would provide people with subsistence in the form of sickness, medical, maternity, old age, unemployment, widows, orphans, industrial injury and funeral benefits.
The main points of the Beveridge Report were as follows.
The appointment of a minister to control all the insurance schemes.
A standard weekly payment by people in work as a contribution to the insurance fund.
The right to payments for an indefinite period of time for the unemployed.
Old age pensions, maternity grants, funeral grants, pensions for widows and for people injured at work.
Payments at a standard rate, the same for all citizens whatever private means they had, paid without a means test.
The introduction of family allowances.
A new national health service to be established.
Throughout World War II, the country was run by a government formed from a coalition of Labour, Conservative and Liberal politicians. During the war, the government became much more involved in people's lives. As part of the war effort, the government organised the rationing of foodstuffs, clothing and fuel and gave extra milk and meals to expectant mothers and children. Far from being resented, most people welcomed this government intervention and wanted it to go further. The government was seen to be taking an active interest in providing for the welfare of the people. More than any other person, William Beveridge's name is associated with the setting up of a blueprint for the post war Welfare State.
The effectiveness of the reforms of the labour governments ,
Between 1945 and 1951 the Labour Government passed a series of measures which some people call the welfare state. This means that the government or state takes on the responsibility of looking after the well-being or welfare of all its citizens throughout their lifetime, identifying times of potential need and dealing appropriately with these.
The Liberal Governments Response to the
challenges facing Wales and England
The extent of change in society
Independently of each other, two wealthy businessmen, Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree, sponsored major investigations into the extent and causes of poverty in British cities.
Pre 1906 the Liberal had a very laissez faire attitude towards the way Britain should be run believing people are solely responsible for themselves (in regards to there welfare) and that the government should not accept responsibility for the hardships of its people believing the popular view that poverty was caused by idleness and drunkenness an "unfortunate but necessary part of society”.
The Great Depression of broke out at a time when the United Kingdom was still far from having recovered from the effects of the First World War. Economist Lee Ohanian showed that economic output fell by 25% between 1918 and 1921 and did not recover until the end of the Great Depression. It was argued that Britain was in a 20 year depression starting in 1918.
Causes, extent and responses to economic problems in Wales and England in the 1920s and 1930s
This influenced the government to turn around on there “let it be” attitude towards its people. It was now obvious that the way the government was run was not allowing people to escape cyclical poverty. This paved the way for the Liberal reforms introduced in 1906.
Rowntree and Booths investigations were conducted separately however the two had similarities with there results: up to 30% of the population of the cities were living in or below poverty levels, the conditions were such that people could not pull themselves out of poverty by their own actions alone. Booth and Rowntree both identified the main causes of poverty as being illness, unemployment and age - both the very young and the old were at risk of poverty
Particularly hardest hit by economic problems were the industrial and mining areas in the north of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Unemployment reached 70% in some areas at the start of the 1930s (with more than 3 million out of work nationally) and many families depended entirely on payments from local government known as the dole. Politically the Conservative Party dominated the era and the Labour Party was seriously hurt.
The Great Depression originated in the United States in late 1929 and quickly spread to the world. Britain had never experienced the boom that had characterized the U.S., Germany, Canada and Australia in the 1920s, so its effect appeared less severe. Britain's world trade fell by half (1929–33),
Britain's world trade fell by half (1929–33), the output of heavy industry fell by a third, employment profits plunged in nearly all sectors. At the depth in summer 1932, registered unemployed numbered 3.5 million, and many more had only part-time employment.
The effects on the industrial areas of Britain were immediate and devastating, as demand for British products collapsed. By the end of 1930, unemployment had more than doubled from 1 million to 2.5 million (20% of the insured workforce), and exports had fallen in value by 50%.

2. The measures were designed to help people 'from the cradle to the grave' and arguably they were the most far-reaching measures which any government had taken in the field of social reform. These social reforms attempted to deal with the 'Five Giants' which had been identified by William Beveridge in his report of December 1942 and which were Want, Disease, Squalor, Ignorance and Idleness.
By 1948, the 'Five Giants' were under severe attack. The state was now providing a 'safety net' which protected all sections of society 'from the cradle to the grave' against the 'Five Giants.' When Seebohm Rowntree investigated social conditions in York in 1950 he found that primary poverty had gone down to 2% compared to 36% in 1936.
Want
The National Insurance Act provided financial protection for the employed in times of sickness. However, the scheme was criticised for the large number of officials who were needed to operate the scheme and it did not include those members of society who were not in work.
The National Assistance Act helped people who were not in work or those who had not paid enough contributions into the new National Insurance Scheme. The assistance was means tested. This meant the assistance received depended on the amount of money or valuable belongings a family or individual possessed. The aim of the scheme was to provide a 'safety net' to ensure that nobody fell into poverty.
The measures did give the elderly an income which allowed them to live with some degree of dignity. However, it has been calculated that welfare benefits in 1948 were only 19% of the average industrial wage and thus well below subsistence level. As such, many more people than expected, particularly the elderly, were forced into applying for national assistance.
In fact in 1949, 48% of all national assistance went to supplement retirement pensions and that figure had risen to 68% by the late 1950s. The problem here was that national assistance was means tested and many of the elderly were reluctant to apply for it, believing there was a stigma attached to them.
Disease
The National Health Service faced a backlog of untreated problems, with doctors, dentists and opticians being inundated with patients queuing up for treatment that they had previously been unable to afford. Prescriptions rose from 7 million per month before the NHS to 13.5 million per month in September 1948.
The enormous expense of the NHS came as a severe shock to the government and by 1950 the NHS was costing £358 million per year. The Labour Government, consequently, had to backtrack on its principle of a free service by introducing charges for spectacles and dental treatment.
Further, the government was constrained in what it could realistically afford by the economy's performance and plans for new hospitals and health centres had to be shelved. Nevertheless, the NHS has to be considered the greatest single achievement in the development of the welfare state.
Ignorance
With education, the government had introduced the '11+' examination as a selection procedure for the limited number of places at senior secondary and grammar schools. This policy was popularly seen to be socially divisive and highly contentious. Critics said that little had been done to enhance the opportunities for working class children, most of whom left school at 15 years after 1947 with few if any paper qualifications. Compared to the equality of opportunity and provision being enacted in the fields of social security and health, the Labour Government did little for the educational welfare of the working class.
Squalor
In housing, the Labour Government's record is far from praiseworthy, not comparing well with either pre-war levels or with the record of the Conservatives in the 1950s. Poor housing and homelessness were still serious problems at the end of the Labour administration in 1951.
The 1951 census revealed that there were 750,000 fewer houses than households in Britain and this was approximately the same level of homelessness as in However, given the severe social and economic problems facing the government in 1945 after the end of WWII perhaps the government deserves less condemnation in this respect.
Idleness
The Keynesian policy of nationalising key industries under the control of government had helped keep unemployment rates very low. Unprofitable industries were subsidised in order to keep people in work. Despite this, nationalisation did little to improve working efficiency in these industries. Supported by taxation money, these industries had little incentive to be profitable. As such, wages and working conditions remained generally unimproved.
The cost of paying for the new social services, combined with the debts incurred from fighting WWII, meant that Britain's post-war economy was in bad shape. Despite this, the Labour government, and the later Conservative governments, maintained the commitment to full employment.

3. A study of poverty in 1901 by Seebohm Rowntree found that in a society where those who didn't work didn't eat, there were three time more likely to die young
as a young child
when they were old
when they were sick or unemployed
After 1906, the Liberal government, with Lloyd George as Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced reforms to help these three groups:
Children
In 1906 local authorities were allowed to provide free school meals.
The 1908 Children and Young Persons Act introduced a set of regulations that became known as the Children's Charter. This imposed severe punishments for neglecting or treating children cruelly. It was made illegal to sell cigarettes to children or send them out begging. Separate juvenile courts were set up, which sent children convicted of a crime to borstals, instead of prison.
Old age
In 1908 pensions were introduced for the over 70s, which gave them 5s a week, or 7s 6d to a married couple. Old people cried as they collected their pensions, and said: 'God bless Lloyd George'.
Workers
In 1909 labour exchanges were set up to help unemployed people find work.
The 1911 National Insurance Act was passed. Part 1 of the act gave people the right to free medical treatment, and sick pay of 10s a week for 26 weeks in return for a payment of 4d a week. Part 2 of the Act gave people the right to unemployment pay (dole) of 7s 6d a week for 15 weeks in return for a payment of 2½d a week.
the Trades Disputes Act ruled that unions were not liable for damages because of strikes.
the Workers Compensation Act granted compensation for injury at work.
school medical inspections.
eight-hour day for miners.
half-day a week off for shop workers.
A Merchant Shipping Act improved conditions for sailors.
From 1911, MPs were paid. This gave working men the opportunity to stand for election.
Why did the Liberal government introduce these reforms?
Seebohm Rowntree's study of York in 1901 found that 28 per cent of the population did not have the minimum to live on at some time of their life.
The Boer War - when Britain went to war in 1899, the army found that two-thirds of the men who volunteered for the army were unfit to join up.
Germany - which had a good system of state welfare for workers, was passing Britain as a great industrial power.
Strikes, especially in , and the growth of trade unionism meant politicians feared that, unless standards of living improved for the workers, they might turn to Communism or rebellion.
The Labour Party was growing stronger and it was attracting working-class voters because of its demands for welfare reform.
In 1910, the Liberal Party did not get a majority of seats in the House of Commons, so it had a coalition with the 42 Labour Party MPs who had been elected.
Many government politicians, especially Lloyd George, genuinely wanted to 'wage war' on poverty.