Transcript Labour Reforms

Labour Reforms
Assessment Essay
Labour Reforms Assessment
Introduction
You need a couple of sentences
to put the issue in context.
Key words to use are
• Labour
• Beveridge
• 1945 Election
Labour Reforms Assessment
Introduction
I need to be told the giants that the
Labour Party attacked.
• Want
• Disease
• Ignorance
• Squalor
• Idleness
• General
Labour Reforms Assessment
Introduction
Finally I need to be told how you will
deal with each group.
• What was done
• What worked
• What could have been done better
Labour Reforms Assessment
Historiography
I need to be told that this is still a live
issue which historians disagree If you
can find quotes good. The 3 possible
arguments are :• They were successful
• They were not successful
• They did as well as they could have in
the circumstances.
Want
Want: lack of money which will push you
into poverty
What was done:
• National Insurance Act 1946
– Insurance based
– From cradle to grave
– Whole work force covered
Want
Successes
• National Insurance Act 1946
– Comprehensive
– Universal
– Reaches subsistence level
Want
Failures
• Bureaucratic
• Inflation eats benefits
• Contributions 5% of wages
• Not full benefits for 10 years
• Restricted to 156 weekly contributions
Want
• National Assistance 1948 Successes
– Safety net for those not covered
– Finishes Poor Law
– Needs test less stringent
Want
• National Assistance 1948 Failures
The main failure of this Act was to put
a new scheme in rather than absorb the
costs into the National Insurance Act.
Want
• Family Allowance Act
– Not means tested
– Paid to mother
No real failures
• Industrial Injuries Act 1946
– Paid by Government
– All workers covered
No real failures
Disease
• National Health Service Act 1946
• If you are ill you can’t work and will
fall into poverty.
This was to provide a comprehensive
universal national standard of care
which was free at the point of need.
Disease Successes
• The uptake of services showed the
need.
• It was cheaper than other countries
as a result of economies of scale.
Disease Failures
• The main one you must mention is the
cost.
• This leads to a retreat from free at
the point of need. 1950 Glasses and
dental treatment charged.
• National standard of care
compromised at start. Pay beds in
hospitals
• Middle class gain disproportionately
Ignorance
The way to look at this section is that
practical measures such as rebuilding
schools and training teachers was
successful but the educational theory
failed.
Rebuilding schools: 1176 schools built
928 primary schools.
Teachers: 35000 teachers trained
Ignorance
Education Act 1944
This Act increased the school leaving
age to 15. it also started grants for
higher education.
It was designed to send children to the
best type of school for their abilities
• Grammar Schools for academic
• Technical Schools for skilled
• Junior Secondaries for Workforce
Ignorance
Education Act 1944
The problem was that to decide which
type of school a test was given at age
11 which is far too young. The result
of this test was final. If you failed you
went to a Junior secondary with no
chance of later advancement.
Ignorance
Education Act 1944
To make this worse Technical schools
never took off and 20% of people got
to Grammar schools and the rest were
dumped in Junior Secondaries.
Also the middle class gained
disproportionately as they no longer had
to pay for Grammar School.
Squalor
• Rebuilding Programme
Prefab houses
Council Estates
New Towns Act 1946
The main problem was that although
they built a lot of houses they could
not keep up with the amount they had
promised.
Squalor
The other problem was that they tagged it
on to Bevan’s remit and he was fully involved
in setting up the National Health Service.
It deserved its own Ministry.
Bevan’s character as a socialist was also
important. He disagreed with houses being
built for profit and built 4 council houses
for each private house. He also
concentrated on quality houses rather than
quantity.
Squalor
Finally the New Towns were designed
to have their own industries but in
practice became dormitory towns for
the major cities.
Idleness
The key thing about this issue is that
there was plenty work needing done.
Plenty people willing to work and enough
money from America to pay them so
unemployment would have probably been
low even if Labour did nothing.
Idleness
The two main things they did were to
introduce Keynesian Economics which
concentrated on employment rather
than profit. This worked in the short
term but made factories less
competitive and built up problems for
the future.
Idleness
Nationalisation
They took oversome of the main
industries and ran them for the
country. This did not give a better
service or help workers. It also gave
Trade Unions a lort of power and they
aske for high wages which caused
inflation.
General
• All giants were targeted by an
inexperienced government Proactive in
the face of difficult conditions.
Rowntree showed 36% poverty in 1936
2% by 1950.
However they could have Improved the
economy first. Also the Middle class
gained most
Conclusion
Sum up the giants.
• Want – Successful
• Disease – Successful but expensive.
• Ignorance – Successful in practical issues
but a failure in theory.
• Squalor – a qualified success but they
promised too much
• Idleness – Probably didn’t need to do
anything and what they did built up
problems for the future
Conclusion
Finally make a decision.
They probably did as much as they
could in the face of Britain’s problems
and the winter of 1947.