6. Assessment of the Labour
reforms 1945-51
How successful were the Labour
reforms at tackling poverty?
Past paper questions
• 2013 “The social reforms of the Labour
Government of 1945–1951 failed to deal effectively
with the needs of the people.” How valid is this
view?
• 2012 “The Labour Government of 1945 to 1951 met
the needs of the people ‘from the cradle to the
grave’.” How valid is this view?
• 2010 How far did the post-war Labour Government
meet the welfare needs of the British people
between 1945 and 1951?
• 2009 How significant an impact did the welfare
reforms of the Labour Government 1945–1951 have
on the lives of the British people?
Labour landslide and The Spirit
of 45’
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvNNiOX
HhdE
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c86Gwsb
5LY
CONTEXT – POST WWII
WORLD
CLEMENT
ATTLEE
• Clement Attlee becomes new PM after
Labour landslide victory in 1945 after
their manifesto – ‘Let us face the
future’.
• WWII had been a class leveller, Brits
were keen not to return to the old ways
of the pre-war world. There was an
expectation that government
intervention would continue post WWII.
• Notion of ‘welfare state’ that cared for
its population from the ‘Cradle to the
grave’ and thus provided a ‘safety net’
for those in need.
• KEY DEBATE – Histories debate
whether Labour truly established a
welfare state or built on the foundations
laid by the Liberals.
CONTEXT - 1942 Beveridge
Report
• William Beveridge reported on the social
ills of Britain during the war and identified
‘5 giants of poverty’ –
1. WANT (Poverty)
2. DISEASE (Bad health)
3. IDLENESS (Unemployment)
4. SQUALOR (Bad housing)
5. IGNORANCE (Poor education)
• His report was a blueprint to tackle these
giants of poverty.
635,000 copies sold = BEST SELLER!
Principles in report for social security system to tackle want
- comprehensive
‘from cradle to the grave’
- universal
open to all regardless of means
- compulsory
all in work in scheme
- insurance-based
all to contribute on weekly basis
- flat rate contributions
all pay the same
- end means testing
- subsistence benefits
all would receive regardless of wealth
minimum necessary for food , clothing,
shelter
• His report dealt mainly with Want
• Other problems had to be conquered.
•
•
•
•
Diseasea national health service
Idleness- the state would aim for full employment
Ignorance- education reforms
Squalorhouse-building and slum clearance
• He also assumed that family allowances would be
brought in.
LINE OF ARGUMENT
• Labour reforms - was their effect
positive or negative on British people?
• To assess you need to identify the
problems and the reforms that were
intended to tackle them. Weigh up the
positives and negatives and conclude the
extent to which they improved lives.
•INTRODUCTION
•BEVERIDGE REPORT – 5 GIANTS
• CONTEXT LABOUR LANDSLIDE 1945, POST WWII
•WANT
•What they did
•Successes/problems
•DISEASE
•What they did
•Successes/problems
•IGNORANCE
•What they did
•Successes/problems
•SQUALOR
•What they did
•Successes/problems
•IDLENESS
•What they did
•Successes/problems
•CONCLUSION
•ANSWER THE QUESTION posed
•DON’T SIT ON THE FENCE – BE BOLD, USE HISTORIANS VIEWS
{PLAN}
HISTORIOGRAPHY
• N. Timmins - 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’’.
• D Fraser – ‘The war was to have decisive influence
in producing a common experience and universal
treatment for it.’
• M Bruce – ‘The decisive event in the evolution of
the welfare state was the Second World War’
• Robert Pearce – ‘By 1951 Labour was seen as the
party of the Welfare State. It deserved this
reputation.’
WANT (Poverty) KU
• Family Allowance Act 1945 – Started by wartime
coalition government – 5s per week given for every
child after the first.
• Industrial Injuries Act 1946 – Compensation paid for
all work related injuries – government paid not the
employee. All workers covered. Higher benefits of 45s
per week.
• National Insurances Act 1946 – Compulsory national
insurance that covered unemployment, sickness,
maternity, widows benefits, pensions, death grant for
funeral expenses. 26s for individual, 42s for couple.
• National Assistance Act 1948 – A ‘safety net’ for
those who were not cared for through the National
Insurance scheme i.e. disabled, sick, aged
WANT ARGUMENT
• Family allowance - Wife
given legal entitlement
over the allowance. No
stigmatised means testing.
• Industrial Injuries –
universal and
comprehensive – an
improvement on before.
• Family allowance - Amount
was minimal
• National Insurance – Only
claimed after 156
contributions.
Unemployment only given
between 184-492 days.
• More applied for National
Assistance than intended.
• A lot of officials needed
to operate it thus extra
cost.
OVERALL, system was not comprehensive as promised. When the
benefit rates were decided they were set for the next 5 years
without taking into account inflation thus it did not provide basic
subsistence. An improvement from before but still a way to go.
DISEASE KU
• Poor cannot afford treatment –
only 21million (half the population)
were covered by previous Liberal
reform for National Insurance
(sick).
• Aneurin Bevan – Minister for
Health managed the most
significant Labour Reform –NHS
1946.
1. UNIVERSAL
2. COMPREHENSIVE
3. FREE AT POINT OF USE
Task – p90-91
1. Note in bullet points facts that prove
the success of the NHS
2. Note in bullet points facts that prove
the problems of the NHS
DISEASE KU
• Prescriptions increased from 7million
per month before the NHS to 13.5
million per month by 1948.
• 8 million dental patients treated
• 5 million spectacles issued.
• Paid for through taxation as National
Insurance funds insufficient.
• Common reports from citizens praising
the benefits to health.
DISEASE ARGUMENT
COST – By 1950 cost £358
million/year
Full service could not be provided
at first due to lack of hospitals.
Doctors not initially supportive
due to the loss of private
practice.
• Plans for new hospitals had to be
scrapped.
• Prescription charges had to be
brought in for spectacles and
dental treatment which angered
many and triggered Bevan’s
resignation.
• Immediate demand •
for previously
•
untreated conditions
evidently showed the •
need for the NHS.
OVERALL, ‘the greatest single achievement in the story of our welfare state’.
Historians differ – C. Webster said it ‘failed to improve the general medical service to
the bulk of the population’ due to prescription charges
Tripartite school system:
The plan
Secondary
modern
• Non-academic
Technical
• 5%
Grammar
school
• +11 exam
• Top 20%
• They were meant
to be of equal
standard but
quickly Grammar
schools were
known as the best.
• Technical schools
were never created
as planned.
The reality…
Secondary
modern
Grammar
schools
• Left school at 15, went onto
unskilled jobs
• Stayed on after 15, went on to
college/university, jobs in
management/skilled professions
IGNORANCE KU
• 1944 Butler Education Act – raised
school leaving age to 15.
• Quality and fees an issue in schooling.
• 20% schools destroyed during Blitz.
Task p91-92
1. Look at school buildings, system of
schooling (types) – note the problems
and successes of the Education Act
IGNORANCE ARGUMENT
• By 1950, 1,176 new
schools built – 928 were
primaries which helped
with the baby boom
1942-47.
• Pupils stayed in school
until 15.
• Free secondary
education for all.
• Small number of
working class boys went
to grammar schools.
• Grammar school fees
were abolished reducing
the cost barrier.
• Few secondary's built
especially technical.
• 11+ test proved to be
socially divisive thus
holding back poor pupils
who could not afford it.
• Even with no fees,
working class pupils
under pressure by
family to work.
• Secondary moderns
offered fewer
opportunities for
poorer children,
eventually phased out
for comprehensives.
IDLENESS KU
• 1944 – government white paper
(proposal for discussion) aimed for full
employment.
• Solution was nationalisation of industry.
IDLENESS ARGUMENT
• Look at p92-93
• Can you find an argument for and an
argument against the successes of the
Labour government in securing
employment?
• Some historians argue that the boom in
private investment and building in 1945 led
to full employment.
IDLENESS ARGUMENT
• 2.5% unemployed
• Post WWII –
when they predicted
reconstruction was
3%.
necessary therefore
Americans loans
• Dalton (Chancellor of
funded new building
Exchequer): “The
programmes that
greatest revolution
required workers.
brought by the
Labour took the
Labour government”.
credit.
SQUALOR KU
• Slum housing still a problem in 1945 –
exacerbated by Clydebank blitz 1941 – 7 out
of 12,000 still standing = housing shortage.
• Labour promised huge house rebuilding –
aimed for 200,000/year.
• 1945-48 157,000 pre-fabs were built.
• New Town Act 1946 – 14 new towns built e.g.
Glenrothes, East Kilbride – emphasis on
healthy living
SQUALOR ARGUMENT
• Protected poor from
unscrupulous landlords.
• Separate kitchen, living
room and bathrooms,
gardens, indoor toilets.
• Between 1949 and 1951,
an average of 196,300
houses was built per year.
In all, about 1 million
houses were built by
Labour between 1945-51.
• Poor housing still a
problem.
• Still shortages - 1951
census revealed that
there were 750,000 fewer
houses than there were
households in Britain.
• Long waiting lists for
council houses ended up
with some families
squatting in disused army
camps – appeared a
failure.
Drawing a conclusion p 93
• Read the assessments and find the
arguments for and against.
CONCLUSION
• Broad welfare programme, impressively turned
out in a post WWII economy.
• More generous spending towards old, sick and
poor which has little direct economic benefit a drain.
• Fears that Britain was creating a ‘nanny state’
• 1950s Harold MacMillan famously said “never
had it so good” – this feel good factor was
rooted in the Labour reforms of the previous
decade.
• A positive start had been made to housing
problem
Now apply to an exam question:
2012 “The Labour Government of 1945 to 1951
met the needs of the people ‘from the cradle to
the grave’.” How valid is this view?
40 mins only