Social affairs, state intervention, welfare State, Beveridge Report, Second World War, nation, State, Labor Party, politics, social reforms, Thatcher, economics, families, poverty, Labor, Blairism, globalization
The State intervention in the domain of social affairs dates to the early 1830s but the effective welfare State was made official on December 2nd 1942 with the Beveridge Report. Following the Second World War, the term "welfare State" referred to a major expansion of State involvement in the provision of social welfare. Beveridge laid out proposers for a new system of social security and social justice so that poverty, unemployment, poor housing, lack of access to decent education and health care could be abolished.
The report was based on the idea that to reconstruct the nation, the State (the Government) had to secure jobs with a minimum income for all the people so their basic needs could be covered. As it stated "social insurance may provide income security, it is an attack upon want but want is one only of five giants on the road of reconstruction and in some ways it is the easiest to attack. The others are disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness".
[...] The Establishment of the British welfare State The Beveridge Report The State intervention in the domain of social affairs dates to the early 1830s but the effective welfare State was made official on December 2nd with the Beveridge Report. Following the Second World War, the term «welfare State » referred to a major expansion of State involvement in the provision of social welfare. Beveridge laid out proposers for a new system of social security and social justice so that poverty, unemployment, poor housing, lack of access to decent education and health care could be abolished. [...]
[...] Poor families were helped with the family credit which had to be paid back. The same with students who instead of scholarships, were bound to ask for bank loans that had to be paid back once their studies were completed. The changes brought to the welfare State by Thatcher were carried out by her successors John Major and Tony Blair who came to power with a new ideology he summed up with the concept of « New Labor » and « The Third Way ». [...]
[...] The others are disease, ignorance, squalor, and idleness ». In July 1945, the victory of the Labor Party provided a favorable political situation to put into practice the principle of the Beveridge Report. There was a strong feeling that the British people should be rewarded for their sacrifice and resolution as the Labor manifesto declared in 1945: « Victory in war must be followed by a prosperous peace. ». Thus, within a few years, important social reforms were established: The Family Allowances Act (1945) The National Insurance Act (1946) Pensions for men over 65 and for women over 60 (1946) The National Insurance Act for Industrial Injuries (1946) (it covered workers against accidents at work) The National Health Service (NHS) (1946) The National Assistance Act (1948) (it aimed at making doctors civil servants fonctionnaires) with a definite wage and working in hospitals. [...]
[...] In 1951, in the health sector, for example, a contribution was paid by the patients for their medication but still as a whole, the welfare State was accepted by all Parties during the post war years. Arrival of Margaret Thatcher It was only in the 1970s and 1980s that significant changes were introduced with the coming of Thatcher in power in 1979 and consequently with the change of ideological principles which were reinforced by the economic problems of Britain at that time, a drastic reassessment was made in the economy and social policies. With Thatcher, the leitmotiv of the period became: « individuals have to help themselves ». [...]
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