Moreover, the second giant that was dealt with by the Welfare Reforms was “Disease”. Disease was tackled by the legislation of Health. The health Minister was Aneurin Bevan. Bevan piloted the National Health Insurance Bill through parliament and argued that the NHS was a necessity as many people with serious illnesses were refusing to go to the doctor over fear of medical bills. Many doctors were opposed to the idea of a free health service and refused to give their support. Bevan finally managed to win over the Consultants and GP’s by promising compensation for GPs for the loss of private income, GPs would be paid on the basis of a capitation fee for each patient on the doctor’s list, with an extra payment of 300poundsfor doctors in “unfashionable” practices. Doctors eventually agreed to Bevan’s idea as all their patients would have left them. The National Health Service Act of November 1946 made health care universal, available for all. Comprehensive; the NHS would treat all medical problems, free at the point of use, no patient would be asked to pay for any treatment. The service was, and still is, paid for the National Insurance payments of workers. The creation of the NHS; treated a huge backlog of ailments, medical was provided from “the cradle to the grave”, and according to RC Birch, the NHS was “the greatest single achievement in the story of the welfare state.” However, the government inherited many out of date hospitals, costs were much higher than expected, general taxation had to be used to fund the NHS as the National Insurance contributions were not enough, the NHS operated beside private medicine and the idea of free treatment ended in 1950, as charges were introduced for dental treatment and spectacles.
Furthermore, the legislation of education tackled the giant of ignorance. During the was around 20% of school buildings had been destroyed or damaged by war. The priority of the Welfare Reforms was to replace these buildings and provide more primary schools for the rise in the population of babies. The Labour Government inherited the Education Act from the Coalition Government. This recommended that the secondary schools be split into Grammar schools, secondary modern and secondary technical based on pupils abilities. By 1950 1,176 schools had been built or were under construction, 928 of which were primaries. At secondary level very few technical schools were built leaving a two tier system of grammar schools and secondary modern. Children were allocated types of school after an intelligence test at the age of 11. This was supposed to be a fair means of selection irrespective of social background in reality it was a socially divisive selection procedure. Compared to the equality of opportunity and provision in the other areas of welfare reform, the Labour government did very little for the educational welfare of the working class.
The Housing legislation dealt with the giant on Squalor. The shortage of housing before the war was doubled by the damage caused of the German bombers. In 1945 a third of Britain’s houses were in need of repair. The housing policy was hindered however by the lack of workforce and materials. Timber had to be imported from Sweden and America and in 1947 the programme was cut back by the treasury because of the effect of imports on balance of payments. Bevan was also in charge of the Housing policy. His policy was to help those in need meaning the working class. Between 1954 and 1951 four council houses were built for every private house built and the government continued with the production of pre-fabricated houses. Between 1945-48 157,000 prefabs were assembled, however, despite these efforts there was still a chronic shortage. Poor housing and homelessness were still serious problems in 1951. In 1951 census showed that there were 750,000 fewer households than there were houses.
Finally, the welfare reforms dealt with the giant of idleness through the legislation of employment. Beveridge felt that unemployment could not be brought below 3% but by 1946 it was 2.5%. Hugh Dalton (Chancellor) claimed full employment was the “greatest revolution brought about by the Labour government”. However it is not certain that it was the governments policies of the post war boom coupled with Marshall Aid from America.
In conclusion, the Welfare Reforms of the Labour Government 1945 – 1957 had a quite an impact on the lives of the British people. Many of the legislations enforced by the government made the lives of the British public better as they gained compensation for an injury sustained at work, no longer needed to pay to see the doctor and unemployment was at an all time low. However some of the legislations did little to improve the lives of the British people as the education legislation discriminated against working class children and little was done for the housing legislation.
