health and social
The Beveridge Report, 1942
The Background to the Report
(a) The Wartime Coalition under Churchill gave considerable thought to post-war reconstruction. This had been badly handled after 1918 and there was a general determination not to allow it to happen a second time.
As early as 1941 a committee was instigated to study “reconstruction problems”. This committee commissioned Sir William Beveridge (a Liberal) to “undertake a survey of the existing national schemes of social insurance and allied services……. and to make recommendations”. Beveridge was a man of considerable ability and foresight and he carried out his task with vigour, presenting “The Beveridge Report” to Parliament in December 1942. The Report is regarded as the most significant social policy document of the century. Beveridge emphasised the need to eradicate from life five major evils – want, squalor, ignorance, disease and idleness, suggesting the ways that this might be achieved by a government.
The Five Giants
(b) All three parties in 1945 favoured extensive welfare provision but it fell to Labour to introduce the modern Welfare State. The Beveridge Report of 1942 wrote of the need for the state to attack the “five giants of Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness”. The Welfare State therefore envisaged the provision of comprehensive social services “from the cradle to the grave”, through a system of education, health, housing and social security.
(c) Beveridge talked about the need to tackle 5 giant problems – Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. His Report only dealt with Want. The other problems still had to be conquered:
Disease by the establishment of a new health service;
Idleness by the State aiming for full employment
Ignorance by reform of the educational system;
Squalor by a new house-building and slum-clearance programme.
Beveridge’s Main Proposals
(d) In essence, Beveridge advocated that all people
The Background to the Report
(a) The Wartime Coalition under Churchill gave considerable thought to post-war reconstruction. This had been badly handled after 1918 and there was a general determination not to allow it to happen a second time.
As early as 1941 a committee was instigated to study “reconstruction problems”. This committee commissioned Sir William Beveridge (a Liberal) to “undertake a survey of the existing national schemes of social insurance and allied services……. and to make recommendations”. Beveridge was a man of considerable ability and foresight and he carried out his task with vigour, presenting “The Beveridge Report” to Parliament in December 1942. The Report is regarded as the most significant social policy document of the century. Beveridge emphasised the need to eradicate from life five major evils – want, squalor, ignorance, disease and idleness, suggesting the ways that this might be achieved by a government.
The Five Giants
(b) All three parties in 1945 favoured extensive welfare provision but it fell to Labour to introduce the modern Welfare State. The Beveridge Report of 1942 wrote of the need for the state to attack the “five giants of Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness”. The Welfare State therefore envisaged the provision of comprehensive social services “from the cradle to the grave”, through a system of education, health, housing and social security.
(c) Beveridge talked about the need to tackle 5 giant problems – Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. His Report only dealt with Want. The other problems still had to be conquered:
Disease by the establishment of a new health service;
Idleness by the State aiming for full employment
Ignorance by reform of the educational system;
Squalor by a new house-building and slum-clearance programme.
Beveridge’s Main Proposals
(d) In essence, Beveridge advocated that all people