Chapter 11 Welfare
Xiao Huiyun
November, 2004
A1 Development of “Welfare State”
 1. Definition of Poverty
Absolute Poverty – families without
minimum food, clothing and shelter needed for
maintenance of merely physical health (concept
at beginning of last century)
 1.2 Relative Poverty – Despite adequate income
for survival, people who do not have what is
regarded as minimum necessary for decency and
who cannot escape judgement that they are
indecent can be labeled as poor.
 1.1
A 1 Development of “Welfare State”
 2. How Much Poverty is there in UK?
 2.1
Distribution of real household
disposable income. chart (a) p 181
 Gap between the rich and the poor is bigger.
 The rich get richer, the poor poorer
 Increase in average incomes of the
employed is much grater than that for the
unemployed
What image does this convey?
 United Kingdom (pound per week)
Poverty in Britain
 (b) Proportion of adults lacking
selected basic necessities1 through
inability to afford them, 1999
(p181)
 (d) People in poverty in the UK, by
personal, economic and family status,
1996-97
(p182)
Poverty in Britain
 By the end of 1999 a quarter (26%) of the
British population were living in poverty,
measured in terms of low income and
multiple deprivation of necessities.
 Roughly 9.5 million people in Britain today
cannot afford adequate housing conditions.
 About 8 million cannot afford one or more
essential household goods
Poverty in Britain
 Almost 7.5 million people are too poor to
engage in common social activities
considered necessary by the majority of the
population.
 About 6.5 million adults go without essential
clothing
 Around 4 million are not properly fed by
today's standards
Poverty in Britain
 One in six people (17%) considered
themselves and their families to be living
in 'absolute poverty' as defined by the
United Nations.
 Less than 10% of the population sees a
dishwasher, a mobile phone, Internet
access or satellite television as
necessities.
 This study was undertaken by researchers
at the Universities of Bristol, Loughborough,
York and Heriot-Watt with fieldwork
undertaken by the Office for National
Statistics (ONS).
What is a ‘Welfare State’?
 It can be defined as ‘a state with a government which
assumes responsibility for the well-being of its
citizens throughout life, through a range of
interventions in the market economy’. The welfare
state would aim to offer its citizens
 a life with certain specified standards of living which
it considers reasonable and possible for all, and
 protection against the unexpected hazards of life (for
example, losing a job, becoming sick, having an
accident).
 These days resources for welfare are raised through
National Insurance contributions (which are paid
by all people in work) and general taxation (which is
paid by all people in work above a certain level of
income). There is also a Value Added Tax (VAT)
which is included in the price of many goods and
services.
Brief History of Welfare State in
Britain
 Help serviced by parishes ,early 17th cent.
 Poor Law of 1834 discouraged people from
applying for relief, the unemployed made
stay in “workhouses” “Oliver Twist”, 1837
 Major Reform in 1908 -- National insurance
schemes founded, enabling some people to
cover medical & retirement cost.
 Foundations of what came to be known as
“the Welfare State”
Workhouses
 Workhouse,
Winchester
 Workhouse, Andover
• Pictures of workhouse
The Poor Law in 1834
 OLIVER TWIST
 Charles Dickens
Dickens Centre, Rochester

Summer
House
Portsmouth Museum
 House he bought at his
home town
 Library
Aims of the post-World War II
welfare legislation
 The most radical and
widespread reforms
occurred after the
Second World War in
1945. The measures
introduced then were
based upon a famous
document, the Beveridge
Report of 1942. The
main aims of the
legislation which
followed the Report were
 Lord William Henry
Beveridge, 1879-1963
Main Aims of Legislation after the
Beveridge Report
 to create a system where housing, health services
and social security (payments for unemployment,
old age, sickness, disability, children) would be
provided for all, as an egalitarian ‘safety-net’
below which nobody would be able to fall
 to establish a National Health Service (1947) for
all to receive free diagnosis, treatment and
hospitalisation when necessary.
A 2 CHANGING ATTITUDES
 Margaret Thatcher:
The main most radical
criticisms were that it is
too expensive and that
too much state support
weakens individual
initiative and
enterprise (p 184)
 The Reform by
Thatcherism
 “I came to office with one
deliberate intent: to
change Britain from a
dependent to a self-reliant
society; from a give-it-tome to a do-it-yourself
nation; a get-up-and-go
instead of a sit-back-andwait Britain.”
( Margaret Thatcher,
February1984)
Reforms in Post-war Universal
Welfare Provision
 The National Health Service has
consistently been regarded with pride by the
majority of British people
 Any political party which seemed to be
threatening this institution would therefore
be regarded with great suspicion
 Any restructuring of the system of old age
pensions would prove to be very difficult.
- Reforms in Post-war Universal
Welfare Provision- 1979
 Individual responsibility: private
provision of pension and medical costs
encouraged.
 Collective responsibility: benefit system
tightened up. Reorganization of NHS.
Reforms in Post-war Universal
Welfare Provision- 1980s
What would a radically reformed welfare state
– the social investment state in the positive
welfare society – look like?
1. Government working together with other
agencies
2. No rights without responsibilities
3. Positive welfare
Reforms in Post-war Universal
Welfare Provision
 During the 1980s and 90s there was a general
shift in public opinion towards a more positive view
of public spending in order to maintain the quality
of public services
 In 1997 Tony Blair promised to combine ‘an open,
competitive and successful economy with a just,
decent and humane society’.
 This eventually contributed to the General
Election victory of the Labour Party in 1997.
A3 WELFARE IN BRITAIN —
THE PRESENT
 The three main areas of welfare provision in
Britain are health, housing and social security
 The post-war welfare structure has always been a
combination of public and private provision
 From the 1980s those who could afford to have
been encouraged to provide for their own health
and retirement by paying into private insurance
schemes.
Welfare at Present
 Despite these changes, there are still a wide range
of state benefits available to those in need.
 (a) Social Security
 For those who become unemployed, sick, or who
are working on a low wage with a family to support,
they may claim either job seekers allowance,
income support or working families tax credit. DSS
processes these claims
Welfare, Present
 Other benefits available include
 the ‘Social Fund’ which is used to make ‘one-off’
payments in emergencies or for special necessary
purchases
 sickness benefit
 widow’s pension and widowed mother’s allowance
 disablement allowance if you are badly disabled
Health
 (b) Health
 The National Health Service
 Although since the 1980s some changes
have been made in management, the
principle of comprehensive and free medical
treatment for all, based upon need rather
than the ability to pay, is still the central
philosophy of the service.
Housing
 (c) Housing
 82% of households in Britain live in houses
rather than flats. This compares with 60% in
France and 35% in Italy. Housing in Britain is
either privately owned or provided by funds
from the government as the public sector. The
government controls the proportion of private
and public housing provision in a number of
ways through its housing policy
Housing
 Public Sector Housing — Past & Present
 Part of the philosophy behind the Beveridge Report was




that
the State should be responsible for the provision of
adequate housing
nobody need be housed in squalor
minimal standards of housing should be set
Local government authorities were to be given
responsibility in ensuring that an adequate housing stock
was available in their authority and in maintaining the
standards set by government
Housing
 1950s and 1960s — Post War slum clearance
 The 1980s: Sale of Council Houses
 Many people disagreed with this policy
 Local Council Responsibilities
 he local council still has a number of
responsibilities to provide adequate housing
and meet special housing needs in its area,
usually through the local Social Services
Department —
Housing
 Private Sector Housing
 Housing Benefits
 Help with housing costs has always been
part of the provision of the Welfare State,
either for people on low incomes or for
people unexpectedly or temporarily out
of work through illness or unemployment.
This benefit is administered by local
government
Housing
 The 1961 three-
bedroomed semi-detached
house depicted above is
typical of those now
standing on the Clober
estate. It has white-painted
roughcast walls and a tiled
roof.
Semi-detached House
Semi-detached Houses
Detach House
Detached House
Council Houses
Council Houses
Flats
 London Flat
 Lawn Road Flats
 1930s
 1933-1934
Housing Crisis in Britain
 England faces a housing crisis within the next 20
years, with a potential shortage of more than one
million homes leading to overcrowding and rising
levels of homelessness, a leading social research
charity claimed today
 60,000 homeless households in temporary
accommodation & over I,000 people sleeping
rough – problems to be solved by Social Exclusion
Unit.
 Housing shortages are set to become one of the
most significant social issues of the next 20 years.
Simon Parker , March 19, 2002
Monday 29 September, 2003
Speech by Deputy Prime Minister John
Prescott
 Under the Tories, half a million homes were
repossessed. They drove millions of people
into negative equity - with high interest rates
and falling house prices.
 With Labour we have one million new
homeowners and the lowest mortgage rates for
half a century.
 The Tory shame was homeless people on the
streets. Labour cut rough sleeping by twothirds and reduced the number of families in
bed and breakfast accommodation. And by
next April we shall meet our pledge to end B&B
for all homeless families with children.