unfinished social change

name 3 types of reforms made by conservatives

1. housing

2. public health

3. working conditions

how did the conservatives help housing?

housing of working class act- 1890

extended previous legislation which made tenants liable for health and gave sanitary standards that had to be met to have someone stay there

extended it to councils purchasing land for housing- borrowed from public works loans commissioners and charged tenants at the market rates

strength: less overcrowding so hygiene and health rose as well as fewer infectious diseases

weakness: local councils had to pay for it which led to higher taxation & made cheap housing harder to find

how did the conservatives help working conditions?

there had been few safety regulations and industrial accidents were common

chamberlain’s workmen’s compensation act 1897

enabled workers to claim compensation from employers if they’re injured at work

strengths: more safety and no longer liable for their own accidents- safety more focused on. helped most of working class who are in industrial jobs

weaknesses: doesn’t cover agricultural labourers, seamen and domestic servants

how did the conservatives help public health?

1891 public health (london) act

fixed the issue of previous legislation excluding London and consolidated it

had public health officials require qualifications to do the job and allowed them to take action removing things that threatened health- e.g. ordering clearances of overcrowded dwellings

strengths: britain became more professional and skilled + improved health- cholera disappeared and typhus had relatively few deaths

name 3 reforms labour made

1. national insurance

2. children

3. labour exchange

how did labour improve working class with national insurance- health insurance?

1911

there was alarm due to lots of tuberculosis cases. DLG drew up a scheme where if a worker paid a regular contribution they would receive sickness benefit

worker would pay 4d, employer would pay 3d and state would pay 2d

provide 10 shillings a week for 13 weeks with free medical care and medicine

strengths: showed government was sympathetic to people who are sick and unable to work. pointed to NHS

weaknesses: only helped worker and not his family, no hospital care for free, trade unions already had this

how did setting up the labour exchange by liberals help?

1910

advertised local job vacancies rather than men just standing outside a factory hoping for casual work

labour exchange would bring employer and worker together

1911- paid out unemployment benefits which would be 7 shillings a week for 25 weeks

strengths: helped workers to find work

weaknesses: employers were encourages not to use the exchange and when they did it was usually to find skilled workers

how did liberal party help children?

children’s act 1908

brought together measures to protect and decriminalise children

young children had juvenile courts set up so they weren’t mixed up with hardened criminals who could be a bad influence

changed emphasis from punishment to rehabilitation

strengths: created new attitudes which benefitted children and helped them succeed and showed state should be responsible for welfare of them

how did trade unions help working classes

1. successful and high profile strikes

2. lack of membership for new mass unions

explain how successful strikes helped trade unions to improve conditions of working class

docker’s strike 1889

dockers work was irregular and poorly paid

docking companies cut bonus rates in order to offer lower rates to ship owners for using their docks/warehouses

dockers striked and demanded higher wages- 6 pence an hour

strike went on for 5 weeks and they struggled with hunger

public felt sympathy for them (especially middle class) and it became very well known

they negotiated with employers and their demands were met

strength: this high-profile strike showed that the struggling wc could no longer be ignored and exploited without a struggle- gave confidence to other unskilled workers to strike and fight for better conditions

how did lack of membership not help the new mass unions?

new mass unions helped unskilled working class on a larger scale than new unions

however, by 1900 trade union membership stood at only 2 million (less and 1/6 of people in employment) and only a small proportion of that were in new mass unions

weakness: this meant that they could not be overly effective as they didn’t have the necessary support