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 should save for hard times) Most poor were criminals Enough was being done to help them 1905 Royal Commission o Majority Report - backed up above opinions o 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% were criminal/ 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

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 1906 o 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 reforms Boer 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

Industrial Incapability Germany had overtaken Britain as leading industrial power it had state welfare healthier and better educated workforce Britain needed to compete with them Liberal 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 were needed 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 beg o Juvenile courts established o Punishment for neglecting or cruelly punishing children o Set up Borstals (childrens prisons) and the probation service to stop children from reoffending Limits: o During the summer holidays children did not get food o Not every school had meals and medical cover as not enforced well enough Elderly 1908 Old age pensions act (DLG) came into place in 1909 o 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 taxes o In 1908, 1.2 million was set aside to pay it o 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 industries o 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 fined o Factory inspectors ensured it was put into place

 1911 National Insurance Act (DLG) o Workers and employers both had to contribute and then Govt. topped it up o Act covered only people earning less than 160 a year o Part 1: Health Insurance Paid for treatment and sick pay paid if you were ill for more than 4 days and they got paid 10s 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 people o You had to be in a job for at least a week to get Unemployment benefit o For the whole National Insurance Act, long term unemployed (shortage of jobs) didnt qualify for insurance either 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 members

How 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

Attitudes to the Welfare Reforms

Conservatives didnt like the reforms because they feared tax rises and thought the Govt. was becoming a Nanny 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 business o Conservatives said that Liberals had no right to make people contribute from their wages o Socialists and some workers said that they shouldnt have to pay rich should be taxed more Health Insurance: o Doctors opposed didnt like free medical care Raising taxes In 1909 budget - Lloyd George needed to raise taxes to pay for reforms o It was designed to tax the rich more heavily than the poor o Income tax went from 5d to 6d o 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 up o Tax on tobacco and spirits went up This New Budget was called the Peoples Budget General 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 passed The 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