One of the most prominent reforms which still remain today was the 1908 Pensions Act which was introduced with the aim of tackling what the elderly were to do when they had become too physically unable to work or put their effort to any use. Before this act was introduced, the elderly had no choice but to work themselves to death in the workhouses. The pensions act gave 5 shillings a week (the equivalent of 25pence) to those who were over 70 who earned less than £21 a year. If they were married then they got 7 shillings and 6pence a week, and if you earned slightly higher then you would get an even lower sum of money, and if you earned over £31.50 a year then you would get no pension at all. Also, if they had been in prison before in their lives then they also received no pension or if they had habitually failed to work. This was the first ever Government pension to be introduced, and although it didn’t entirely solve the problem of elderly poverty it did help a little. This was criticised majorly for not being helpful enough towards the elderly, and the point that because the health was so low so many people died before they reached 70 anyway It also cost the government 12 million pounds, and it came under great scrutiny by the Labour party who thought it just wasn’t enough money, yet it goes without dispute that people did benefit from this allowance. Most of the recipients of the pension were women.
To deal with the issue of health, a National Insurance Act was introduced in 1911. This meant that workers earning less than £160 received free health insurance. This was contributory – people had to pay towards it. Workers paid four pence a week, employers 3 pence and the government paid two pence. It also provided sickness benefit which was previously unheard of for the first time ever and free medical treatment and maternity care. This mainly helped the able bodied or the so called “undeserving poor”. There was a second part of the National Insurance Act which tackled the issue of unemployment. If workers became unemployed for any reason they would be given a benefit for 15 weeks so that they could get themselves back on their feet. This was also contributory, the workers and the state both paid for it. Yet this scheme only paid for the employee only, it would not be able to pay for his family if he had one, and it was only applied to a limited amount of trade. Germany had already introduced unemployment benefits and this was seen to be introduced to try and keep up with Germany. However this scheme failed at the start of the war.
The liberals introduced the 1908 Children’s act, because children up to 1908 had alcohol and tobacco freely available to them, and they were not attending school to work in the workhouses in poor conditions. Many children contracted illnesses whilst working there, and they didn’t live very long. Under the Education Act, 1906, children were provided with free school meals, and it became illegal for children to be neglected and punishments were imposed to deal with those who were neglecting the children. It also became illegal for children to enter pubs and to buy cigarettes. The minimum age for execution was also raised to 16. However the Education act wasn’t compulsory and only a third had taken up giving children free school meals by 1911. This idea was originally thought up by Labour, and the Labour party thought that they had stolen it from them which caused distress. Because this act wasn’t compulsory, it didn’t reach a large portion of England’s children. However later on they did make the Education act compulsory, and in that year fourteen million children were served at school. This liberal reform was seen as the most successful out of the rest of them.
The Liberals also set up reforms for the workers. The 1906 Trade Disputes Act made it so that workers didn’t have to pay the losses caused by a strike, and the 1906 Compensation Act made it so that people had more of a motive to work because they would get paid for any injuries that may have been had at work. In 1908 the hours that miners had to work were decreased, and in 1909 labour exchanges were set up to help people find work, by providing today’s equivalent of Job Centres. By 1914 they had found a million people jobs so this was seen as a success; however the new jobs were only temporary.
Yet some of the reforms didn’t help everyone, they helped a large majority of the British public. Overall they were seen as successful but perhaps they could have been taken a bit further. These were seen as leading the way to a welfare state.
