Labour Welfare Reforms
essay tips
Assess the impact of the welfare
reforms of the Labour
Government on the lives of the
British people.
What is the question asking you to do?
•Have to assess the impact of the welfare reforms on
the British people. Did the reforms have a positive or
negative impact of the lives of the British population?
•The word assess means that you have to examine
each key reform area and arrive at a conclusion
regarding their impact. Examine both positive and
negative arguments.
•Timescale: You need to examine the period 19441951. Set the scene - why were the reforms
introduced? Once this is done you can begin to
examine each reform area.
Essay Plan
•Line of Argument in essay: How did the reforms
help individual groups of people in Britain?
•Focus on the ‘five giants’: want, disease,
ignorance, squalor and idleness. How successful
were the Reform Acts in solving these problems?
•Also examine/discuss individual groups - How
did the Reforms help: children, sick, those unable
to work, people in poverty and those in poor
housing? These are ideas that can be referred to
in your essay.
Introduction - General Ideas
•Your opening sentence should grab the attention
of the marker straight away. Perhaps a key
question or a quote. Something that highlights the
aim of your essay and gives you the opportunity
to refer back to.
•Outline how you are going to answer the
question - What are your key arguments? Also
aim to ask questions.
•Ensure that there is always a link to each
paragraph - a statement or sentence.
Introduction - Specific Ideas
Opening sentence: some suggestions Many historians believe that the Labour
Welfare Reforms of 1945-51 enhanced the
lives of the British people. However, was
this actually the case? or
‘’ This is the greatest advance in our
history. There can be no turning point.
From now on Beveridge is not the name of
a man; it is the name of a way of life’’.
(‘The Five Giants’ by Nicholas Timmins’)
Introduction - Specific Ideas
Comment of the importance of this quote - it is
referring to the positive impact of the Welfare
Reforms. Create a line of argument using this quote
- were the Labour Welfare Reforms successful in
improving the lives of the British public?
Line of argument - create questions in your
introduction that can be argued/answered later. Did
the reforms manage to provide an efficient health
service?
Link paragraphs - It is clear to see that there are
many arguments about the reforms but why were
they introduced?
Main Body of Essay - General Ideas
Ensure that you always refer back to the question make sure you don’t just ‘tell the story’ of the reforms actually assess the impact they had.
Include detailed, specific evidence to support the
point/argument of the paragraph. Make sure you include
a topic sentence - what is the key argument of this
paragraph?
Support your points by referring to debates/references
from Historians. When planning your essay, note down
key quotes and debates. Again - make sure you always
provide a link to the next paragraph.
Main Body of Essay - Specific Ideas - Paragraph
One
•Focus on why the reforms were introduced.
Key argument idea - these are the problems
the Labour Government had to deal with - were
they successful in overcoming them?
•Public wanted social change after the war.
Wanted to create a ‘land fit for heroes’.
Evacuation illustrated serious health problems.
•These are the reasons why the reforms were
introduced - refer to the question: the scene
was now set - would the government respond
to these challenges?
Main Body of Essay - Key points/Arguments
•Five Giants idea ‘want’ - this area was
dealt with in the
Beveridge Report of
1942 - British public
had got what they
wanted. Report sold
636,000 copies massive amount.
This would be the
foundations for the
Labour Government
•This paragraph should
focus on the idea of ‘want’ outline the principles of the
Beveridge Report. Need to
also examine the creation of
a state insurance fund social security, family
allowances. How successful
was the government in
meeting the needs of those
ill or injured?
Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments:
Paragraph should focus on:
• Disease would be dealt
with by the creation of
a new Health Service.
• How successful was
this new service in
meeting the needs of
the British public?
• Was a common
standard of care
throughout the country
created?
• Did all medics cooperate with the new
system?
• Were all the hospitals
run and operated
smoothly?
• Did the government
underestimate the
demands to be placed
on this new service?
Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments:
Paragraph should focus on:
• Idleness would be
improved by the state
aiming for full
employment.
• What policies did the
Government introduce
to improve
employment?
• Were they
successful?
• Remember, higher
number of workers
were needed to pay
contributions to the
new Social Security
System.
• Was this actually
achieved?
• Remember, to keep
linking paragraphs.
Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments:
Paragraph should focus on:
• Ignorance would be
dealt with by
reforming the
education system.
• What about children
with no support or
family?
• How successful was
the 1944 Education
Act?
• Were the prospects
of the Working
Class improved?
• Was there enough
schools to
implement this
legislation?
• Did these reforms
satisfy the demands
of the public?
Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments:
Paragraph should focus on:
• Squalor was be
tackled through a
new house-building
programme and a
slum clearance
scheme.
• What problems (lack
of housing) did the
new government
inherit after the war?
• Were they successful
in dealing with these
problems?
• What acts were
passed to deal with
this shortage of
housing?
• Were ‘new towns’
created and the issue
of overcrowding
solved?
Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments:
Paragraph should focus on:
• Take two
paragraphs to focus
on summarising how
the reforms helped
(if they did)
individual groups.
• Refer back to the
plan to remind
yourself of the
individual groups.
• You can provide
answers to the
questions/arguments
you should be
creating in your
essay.
• Have you linked
paragraphs?
• Have you created a
line of argument and
not just told a story?
Conclusion - General Points
• Make sure the
conclusion always
refers back to the
question (you should be
always doing this in the
main body of your
essay anyway).
• Make sure it does
answer the question
and ‘wraps’ up all the
key points.
‘Despite these charges,
the achievement of the
Labour government
1945-51 was
considerable, The NHS
was the envy of the world
and Labour could
justifiably claim that
people were cared for
‘’from the cradle to the
grave’’.
Conclusion - General Points
There you go - that is an ending for the
conclusion - try to fill in the rest of the
conclusion.