Review the main features of TWO welfare reforms passed by the post war Labour government 1946-1951.

The Labour Party won power decisively in the General Election of July 1945. Following the Second World War there was a strong feeling that British people should be rewarded for their sacrifice and resolution. The government promised reforms that would create a more equal society, those reforms among others included the National Health Service Act (1946) and The National Insurance Act (1948) of which main features will be review in this essay.

Labour government created the National Health Service Act, based on the proposals of Sir Beveridge Report. The National Health Service Bill was introduced into the House of Commons in March 1946 and came in to being in 5 July 1948. ‘It started with clear assertions of the responsibility of central government for the health of the nation and of the principle that services should normally be free of charge’. (Hill, 1993:32) There were reforms in coverage, eligibility, governance and founding. Coverage became universal, with no exclusion on grounds of income or wealth. Direct payments for health care (fees and charges) were abolished (Alcock, 2008:243). Hospitals, local authorities and most voluntary were nationalised. Hospital specialists became salaried employees. However, doctors could still continue to treat private patients in their now publicly owned hospitals.

The cost of the NHS was underestimated, that it would cost £126 million. However, during its first year, expenditure exceeded £278 million and by 1951-2 it was in the region of £400 million (Laybourn, 1995:231).

Another Reform passed by Labour government the National Insurance Act (1948), establishes the welfare state as recommended by the Beveridge report of 1942 with compulsory contributions to cover unemployment, sickness, maternity, widows, old age benefits, and funeral grants.

‘The outcome of Beveridge great work was the necessary reorganisation and rationalisation of the social insurance system and its universalization, to the real advantage, especially, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

‘The outcome of Beveridge great work was the necessary reorganisation and rationalisation of the social insurance system and its universalization, to the real advantage, especially, of many woman and of those of the middle classes who had previously been excluded from most insurance benefits’(Thane, 1996:238).

James Griffiths, the Minister for National Insurance at the time, was intended upon implementing the Beveridge Report and introduced a scheme committed to the principal of providing a ‘National Minimum Standard’. The National Insurance Act ‘established that, in return for a single payment, an employed man would receive entitlement to seven types of benefits- sickness, unemployment, retirement pension, maternity and widow- all at a flat rate level as Beveridge had suggested’.(Laybourn, 1995:223)

Furthermore, due to introduction of the National Insurance Act in 1948, the new benefits levels were 26s. per week for sickness, unemployment and retirement, with 16s. for a wife and 7s. 6d. for a first child. ‘This was an increase by 2s. per week in unemployment benefits 8s. in sickness and 16s. in the pension’ (Thane, 1996:238). It gave unemployment benefits for six months, and up to a year for those with good contribution records.

To sum up under Labour governments major changes were made to national insurance and national health services. Beveridge Report has been very influential for Labour in creating its reforms at the time, and more or less they accepted Beveridge broad ideas about welfare state.

Words; 513

Bibliography

Brown J. The British Welfare State a Critical History (1995)

Hill M. The Welfare State in Britain- A Political History since 1945 (1993)

Laybourn K. The Evolution of British Social Policy and the Welfare State (1995)

Lowe R. The Welfare State in Britain since 1945 (3rd Edition 2005)

Thane P. Foundations of the welfare state (2nd Edition 1996)