The Liberal Welfare Reforms 1906

7/27/2019 The Liberal Welfare Reforms 1906

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The Liberal Welfare Reforms 1906 - 1914

Conditions of the Poor in the 1890s In 1834 the Poor Law was put in place it stated that each parish should look after its own poor if you are

unable to work then you can get some money to live eventually this led to workhouses

Living Conditions

Overcrowded housing Unhygienic and vermin invested homes and streets- disease spread easily No sewage system

Working Conditions

Long hours and little pay unfair working hours and wages sweatshops etc. Unreliable work no benefits/ sick pay unemployment high Dangerous working conditions vermin invested and dangerous People worked, on average, 300 days a year

Social Conditions

Streets were dangerous as crime rates were high due to poverty Poor conditions unhygienic and vermin invested - Dark and smelly streets Starvation was normality 50% of recruits for Boer war were malnourished Workhouses and few charities were the relief for poverty they were brutal people felt shame No pensions - no welfare state Poor could not afford medical treatment life expectancy low

Opinions of poor in 1890s

The Rich

Poor responsible for their own poverty drunken and irresponsible with money (thought the poor shouldsave for hard times)

Most poor were criminals Enough was being done to help them 1905 Royal Commission

o Majority Report - backed up above opinionso Minority Report blamed illness/old age/job shortage and thought more should be done to help

poor

Social Reformers

Successful people who thought that reports were exaggerated They found that reports were understated Their reports had impacts on changing attitudes

Charles Booth

Published Life and Labour of the people in 1899 - it stated that 30% in severe poverty only 1% werecriminal/ idle/ drunk

Successful shipping owner and businessman Showed that causes of poverty were low wages, sweatshops, casual work and old age/illness/death of main

breadwinner


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Seebohm Rowntree

Published Poverty: A study of Town Life in 1901 said 28% of people in York were poor Head of confectionary company Published statistics on wages, hours, diet, health and housing Conclusion was that poverty was caused by low wages and old age State should introduce measures to protect poor

John Galt A missionary who took photos of poor Showed working class were hard workers but trapped in poverty cycle

Opinions changing

Popular writers (Dickens, Wells, Shaw etc.) supported having welfare reforms wrote about poor People involved in public health and medicine said that Govt. should do more to help Socialists called for wealth to be more evenly spread Labour Party gained working class support and called for financial help for poorest

Conditions Improving 1901

Hours of work reduced and better wages Work conditions were improved Sanitation systems put in place Children had to go to school until 12:00 All men granted vote

Political Opinions of the Poor

Liberals and Conservatives

Government intervention is wrong Wrong to raise taxes people should decide how to spend their own money Giving poor money was wrong as it undermined their independence

Labour

Poor should get Government help Taxes should help poor Government should take control of industries and use profits to help poor

The Liberal Reforms New Liberalism (1906)

Liberals won a landslide victory from Conservatives in 1906o This was mainly because the Conservatives were split on the issue of free trade (most Conservatives

wanted tariffs)people wanted free trade and didnt want tariffs introduced Liberals wanted free

trade (Lloyd George)

29 labour MPs were also elected New Liberalism was what David Lloyd George called Liberals who favoured help for poor

Why did the Liberals bring about Welfare Reforms?

Social Reformers and the Minority Report

These changed public attitudes public put pressure on Govt. for social reformsBoer War (1899)

50% of recruits unfit shocking that Britain might have an unfit army Needed a healthy working class if they were going to fight a major war


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Industrial Incapability

Germany had overtaken Britain as leading industrial power it had state welfare healthier and bettereducated workforce

Britain needed to compete with themLiberal Rivalry with Labour

Liberals need to compete with growing Labour party (1906)

They had to reform because working men had vote Labour would take votes In 1910 the Liberals and Labour had to form a coalition as Liberals did not win majority

Leading Politicians

Leading Liberals (Lloyd George and Churchill both came around in 1908) were convinced that reforms wereneeded to compete with Europe (especially Germany)

Lloyd George from poor Welsh background himself They also wanted to make a name for themselves

What were the Welfare Reforms?

Children 1906 School Meals Act (free) 1907 School Medical Service (free)

o In 1912 School Medical Service provided treatments 1908 Children and Young Persons Act

o Illegal for children under 16 to buy cigarettes, go into a pub or bego Juvenile courts establishedo Punishment for neglecting or cruelly punishing childreno Set up Borstals (childrens prisons) and the probation service to stop children from reoffending

Limits:o During the summer holidays children did not get foodo Not every school had meals and medical cover as not enforced well enough

Elderly

1908 Old age pensions act (DLG) came into place in 1909o Pensions for people over 70, on low incomes 5s a week for a single person and 7 s a week for a

married couple

o Didnt have to contribute, paid from taxeso In 1908, 1.2 million was set aside to pay ito It was graded over 31 a year you got nothing

Limits:o Even low wage earners (31) still didnt get pensions (they earned only slightly more)o People who had never worked got nothing

Workers

1909 Labour Exchange Act (WC and Beverage)o Labour exchanges set up (like a job centre)o 1 million jobs per year filled in through labour exchanges

1909 The Trade Boards Act (WC and Beverage)o Set minimum wage for people in sweat industrieso Boards made up of employees, employers and a neutral chairman to discuss minimum wage for the

different industries (1 board per industry)

o Employers paying less were finedo Factory inspectors ensured it was put into place


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1911 National Insurance Act (DLG)o Workers and employers both had to contribute and then Govt. topped it upo Act covered only people earning less than 160 a yearo Part 1: Health Insurance

Paid for treatment and sick pay paid if you were ill for more than 4 days and they got paid10s a week (men)women didnt put of get as much out, but did get a one off maternity

grant of 30s

Workers names put on a doctors list and Govt. paid for doctor. 10 million workers now had health insurance

o Part 2: Unemployment Benefits Initially for industries where people were regularly out of work (construction etc.) Workers were paid 7s per week, for up to 15 weeks in one year

Limits:o Unemployment benefit still not enough to live on for most peopleo You had to be in a job for at least a week to get Unemployment benefito For the whole National Insurance Act, long term unemployed (shortage of jobs) didnt qualify for

insuranceeither couldnt contribute or they werent in work for a week to get unemployment

benefit nothing was done to increase jobs

o Only the worker was covered by the health act not other family membersHow effective were the Reforms?

Children

By 1914, 150,000 children received 1 good meal a day with direct health benefits Medical conditions were identified and treated Children were not treated in the courts and were protected from neglect and harm

Elderly Old were kept out of the workhouse Poverty was tackled by direct funding from central Govt. and not local authorities

Workers

Finding work was much easier 1 million people a year found work through the labour exchange Provided a safety net for workers ill and unemployed By 1914 500,000 workers had a minimum wage

Issues

However all these schemes were not designed to cover the whole population The Health Insurance didnt cover the workers family Unemployment benefit only covered a few industries. They didnt replace the Poor Law and workhouses werent abolished until 1930

Positives

Changed the attitudes to helping the poor It was the first time that national taxes were used to help the poor The first state benefits and the first countrywide schemes to help the poor There were large numbers of people covered Less stigma than workhouse and Poor Law Non- Government agencies did decline showing it had an impact


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Attitudes to the Welfare Reforms

Conservatives didnt like the reforms because they feared tax rises and thought the Govt. was becoming aNanny State

Elderly

Labour said that the pensions were too little However the pensions were immensely popular

Workers

National Insurance act:o Insurance and Friendly societies didnt like it as they feared loss of businesso Conservatives said that Liberals had no right to make people contribute from their wageso Socialists and some workers said that they shouldnt have to pay rich should be taxed more

Health Insurance:o Doctors opposeddidnt like free medical care

Raising taxes

In 1909 budget - Lloyd George needed to raise taxes to pay for reformso It was designed to tax the rich more heavily than the pooro Income tax went from 5d to 6do A super tax of 1s 2d per 1 you earned only for people earning over 3000 (anything above 3000

was taxed)

o Inheritance tax went upo Tax on tobacco and spirits went up

This New Budget was called the Peoples BudgetGeneral Election of 1910

To make the peoples budget law it needed to be passed by the House of Commons and Lords The Commons accepted the new budget but the Lords didnt This was a Constitutional Crisis the unelected House of Lords was blocking the elected Govt. The only choice the Liberals had was to call a general election to prove they had support on the Peoples

Budget

The Liberals won and the budget was passedThe Parliament Act of 1911

The law was changed so that the House of Lords could no longer reject laws on financial issues All other bills could only be rejected twice by the House of Lords In return the House of Commons agreed to elections every 5 years and not every 7 years

Documents

The Liberal Welfare Reforms 1906