Social Welfare and Education 1918-1939

Flashcards about social welfare, healthcare, and education in Britain between 1918 and 1939.

What was the main social welfare problem during the time period discussed?

Unemployment, which overlapped with industrial relations.

What are the key components of Social Welfare Provision?

Social Security, Health, and Education.

In the Victorian era, what was the prevailing view on helping poorer people?

Private charity was considered the best approach, with local, voluntary, and charitable organizations administering most of the welfare.

What was the role of the government in welfare during the Victorian era?

The government was not involved; the Poor Law took poor rates from local landowners/businesses to support workhouses.

What did the 1911 unemployment insurance provide?

7 shillings a week for fifteen weeks in a year, but the scheme only covered 10% of workers.

What else was provided in 1911 besides unemployment insurance?

Maternity allowance was given, and labour exchanges (job centers) were established.

What was a major concern expressed in the Ministry of Reconstruction report in February 1918 regarding unemployment insurance?

Without a centralized system, improvised solutions could lead to long-term problems and demoralization.

Why did the state start taking more responsibility for the poor and unemployed in the 1920s?

Fears of a ‘workers revolution’ like Russia 1917, abnormal levels of unemployment after WWI, and the need to support soldiers who fought in WWI.

What was significant about the lack of a ‘means test’ for unemployment benefits?

It reflected a view that welfare was something you were entitled to, regardless of your financial status, aiming to prevent social unrest.

Name the different models of social welfare across the 20th Century.

Victorian Legacy, Liberal Welfare Reforms 1906-14, Growth of State Provision after WWI, Creation of the Welfare State after WWII, and Evolution of the Welfare System from 1979.

By 1937, what percentage of GDP was government spending on social welfare?

10.5%

What concerns led to increased government spending on social welfare after WWI?

Various economic, political, and geopolitical factors led to increased concern over unemployment and poverty.

What did the Acts of 1931 and 1934 exemplify?

The tensions between the need for economic prudence during the Depression, acknowledgement that state protection was necessary, and the need to respond to popular protest.

Name 3 ways in which the Acts of 1931 and 1934 differed from the universal approach to social welfare in the 1920s.

Means testing started, part-time employed could no longer access benefits, and ‘transitional payments’ introduced requiring claimants to register at a local labour exchange.

What was the purpose of the Hunger Marches in the 1930s?

Protest against the ‘means test’ during the Depression.

What impact did mass urbanization and industrialization have?

Huge impact on living and working conditions.

How did World Wars I & II revolutionize medicine?

Surgical techniques, record-keeping, antibiotics, transfusions, prosthetics.

What report was a key turning point in public health in 1942

The Beveridge Report

When was the NHS created?

1948

What was the Finsbury Health Centre?

An example of innovative 1930’s care with preventative health that inspired wartime planners and NHS architects.

What did the Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham do?

Run as a family club to encourage healthy living via activities and checkups.

By 1939, why was there pressure to streamline healthcare?

To provide healthcare during the war due to widespread injury/illness.

What consensus emerged between medical professionals and policymakers during 1918-39?

A consensus about what was wrong with the existing healthcare system and the goal of reform

What did the Fabian Society advocate for before 1918, regarding healthcare?

Centralising (state-planned) healthcare provisions.

What did the Labour Party advocate in 1919 regarding healthcare?

A free / comprehensive national health service.

What did the 'Dawson Report' recommend?

A network of state-funded/organised hospitals.

Voluntary hospitals were what?

Charitable organizations that treated immediate / life-threatening conditions; doctors / surgeons often worked voluntarily.

What did the Voluntary Hospitals Commission argue?

That the government should merge voluntary and local authority hospitals to bring expertise and finance together.

Which act established the Ministry of Health

Minister Of Health Act 1919

What was the most serious public health problem in the aftermath of WWI?

Tuberculosis (TB)

Which act made the provisions of TB sanatoria by local authorities compulsory.

The Tuberculosis Act 1921

Which act passed responsibility for Poor Law hospitals to country and borough councils?

Local Government Act 1929

What happened to Uninsured people during the Great Depression?

Were forced to rely on private health insurance, which often did not pay enough to cover medical costs.

What were the Ministry of Health's priorities during the 1930s?

Hospital funding, but local authority hospitals began innovative experiments in preventative health, focusing on diet and hygiene.

What think-tank argued for changes to British Healthcare.

Political and Economic Planning argued that British healthcare lagged behind other developing countries, such as Australia and New Zealand.

How was teaching in the interwar period seen?

More equal. Post-WWI reconstruction led to an increasing centralisation of funding with highly variable provision.

What did the 1944 Butler Act do?

Major extension of compulsory and free schooling, esp to working classes, plus the 11+ exam.

For most children at the start of the 20th Century, what provided their education?

Local education authorities (LEAs) - created in 1902 by the Balfour Education Act.

Give some duties of Local education authorities.

Paid teachers wages, provided free school meals, ensured the upkeep of school buildings and monitored standards and qualifications.

What did the 1902 Education Act increase chances of

Working-class children getting grammar school education, but secondary remained only for higher classes.

Focusing on workplace skills, what type of universities would you find in Sheffield, Leeds etc?

Red Brick University

What was University access limited to in 1918?

The privileged - widening participation not a priority.

What did the 1926 Hadow Committee highlight about education provisions?

Their incomplete records and difference of education provisions in different areas. The Committee recommended the abolition of elementary schools and division into primary and secondary schools, with children transferring at 11 and the raising of school-leaving age to 15.

Where did secondary schools contain mostly?

Middle-class children

The Hadow Report recommended what?

Tried to create a ‘tripartite system’ between grammar schools - technically schools - and modern schools

Why were the Hadow Report recommendations not taken upon?

Education being backgrounded by unemployment / rearmament.

Why was increasing the school leaving age was again rejected by Lords.

On cost / practicality grounds and by Catholic MP’s who spoke for members of their faith.

Under second Labour government (1930) what action was rejected?

Tries again to increase school-leaving age to 15

The Fisher' Education Act was aiming to make what?

A 'home fit for heroes'