In the Elizabethan times (16th century) there was no welfare state and there was little support for those in poverty. Beggars wandered around the countryside looking for work to buy food. However a poor law was made that meant ratepayers in Parishes had to look after the sick, disabled, and the old and also provide work for those who could. This gave the poor some security but was not successful in getting rid of poverty.
The welfare state was first started by the Liberal government between 1906 – 1919. They started to introduce new services under social security, health, education, housing, employment and the treatment of offenders. Rowntree did research into poverty and this influenced the Liberal government to take responsibility to try to reduce poverty. In 1906 free school meals were introduced, in 1909 old age pensions were given to those who could no longer work. The most important thing the Liberals introduced was National Insurance in 1911. These changes mainly helped the old and disabled as it prevented these groups from going into poverty. However it didn’t help those who were unemployed or already in poverty as they could pay into the National Insurance scheme.
In 1940 – 50, after winning the Second World War the people of Britain never wanted to return to pre war conditions. There had been 20 years of mass unemployment and no help was given to those in poverty. The measures introduced by the Liberal government were not proving successful. The environments and housing people had to live in were of poor condition and helped spread disease.
The Labour government decided that no one should be allowed to live in poverty and the Welfare state should be for everybody. To get rid of disease everyone was to have proper healthcare so the National Health Service was introduce; this provided free healthcare for everyone. In 1948 a social security system came into action to rid want and poverty. This provided money for those that needed financial help and protection. To tackle ignorance the Butler Education Act (1994) was introduced to provide free secondary state education to all, in 1947 the leaving age was raised to 15. To remove squalor poor housing was got rid of and it was replaced with adequate state and private provision. To tackle idleness and unemployment more jobs were created.
From the late 1960s and onwards the welfare state became more and more difficult to finance. The rise in economic growth that had been expected after the Second World War had gone and there was a return of economic slumps. To add to the problem old age pensioners were now living longer and so the 25% of public spending was spent on pensions. The National Health Service, which had been created to decrease the amount of people going to hospital, had actually had the opposite result. Another problem was that money was going to people who didn’t need it as some were lying about their situation in order to get befits. The conservative party argued that the welfare state was encouraging people to relay on the state making them passive and helpless.
From 1979 to 1997 the conservative government wanted to reduce the amount the Welfare state was giving out and move away from universalism. For example they wanted most people to get medical care privately and only the people that could afford it would be able to get it on the NHS.
Despite these problems the Welfare state definitely wasn’t a total failure as it reduced a lot of disease, poverty and misery. However it may have helped get rid of absolute poverty but relative poverty would have still existed. It also brought about financial difficulties for the country that could have reinstated poverty, as the government would have had to cut back on the amount spent on the welfare state.
The welfare state has been both successful and has also failed. It can be argued that it has succeeded in getting rid of absolute poverty however there are still homeless people and beggars on the street. It has also not succeeded in getting rid of relative poverty, as there are people who cannot afford things that others take for granted. The NHS has meant that there are fewer diseases and people live longer, however there are long waiting lists for treatment. Everyone has a chance to an education and the leaving age is 16 however there are still some youths that come out of school with no qualifications. The old slums from before the war have been demolished and in their place new housing has been put up, although some of these places are no nicer to live in. Unemployment is still high although the state does provide training and job opportunities. Looking at Britain today to eliminate poverty would be a very hard thing to do. To provide free services for everyone who needs it the taxes would have to be increased. Taxes are a very unpopular thing and parties usually promise to lower taxes so as to get more votes. Therefore spending on the Welfare state cannot be improved in this way.