Firstly, Local authorities were not forced to provide free school meals to children, and were not given money to provide for them. Likewise medical treatment wasn’t free when the act was passed; just the inspection was free. Also orphans had no assistance from the government. This meant that children could still suffer the affects of growing up in a poor family.
Secondly, poorer people didn’t usually live until 70, the minimum age to claim the old age pension. Prior to this, many people would be out of work due to age discrimination, and would have to rely on their children for support, preventing the children from escaping poverty. Also the pensions weren’t a lot of money and hardly enough to live on if the person had no job, to pay for shelter, food and medical care. Even so, these pensions only entitled the extremely poor to get the money, the moderately poor who were also suffering couldn’t receive money.
Thirdly, only sweated industries received a minimum wage, and so many people were forced to live on little money for hard dangerous labour. Industries were not forced to inform labour exchanges of job vacancies, so there were not a lot of job vacancies available, which would have high demand. A small amount of workers were entitled to unemployment benefit, and so many people and their families suffered whilst looking for a job. Also this benefit was only for certain trades, lasting for only 15 weeks. Medical care was provided for the insured worker and not his family, and the treatments were not free, except for those with tuberculosis. Dental and optical check ups were not provided for. Women or families of the workers were not insured. Anyhow all of these benefits were only just about enough to maintain a healthy living under the circumstances described by Rowntree.
Widows or orphans were not mentioned in any of the acts. This meant that these people, along with millions of people who didn’t fit in with the requirements of the limited acts, would continue to suffer the affects of poverty.
Although, the reforms were limited, the reforms were the foundations of a welfare state, where the government takes responsibility for the poor, paving the way for later measures following throughout the rest of the century. The reforms did attempt to remedy the real reasons for poverty, but could not extend because of the opposition of the middle and upper classes. However, the reforms did change views of poverty, which meant that the future generations would hopefully support reforms. Therefore, although the Liberal Party failed to make progress at the time, many people were helped, and it was a start to a way of thinking that would evolve.