Liberals In Dealing With The Problem Of Poverty Essay

How successful were the liberals in dealing with the problem of poverty?
Poverty was a huge problem in Britain in the 1900s. Keeping the youth of Britain healthy by giving them school meals was one of the problems, also giving workers sick pay when they were entitled to it, giving the elderly a pension when they reached a certain age, as well as trying to find the unemployed a job, then trying to give those who did have a job a better days work. These were all key factors in tackling the problem of poverty in Britain in this point in time. It was Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree that made awareness of poverty by doing a wide survey in York and London. They came to the conclusion that over one third of the population was living in poverty, and that most cases it was not their own fault. This survey made the government feel as if they had to help those in need. The liberals came into power during 1906 and started to tackle the problems in several key areas. One of the problems the Government tackled was help the youth of Britain, they started by introducing the Free School
Meals act in 1906, this is where local education authorities were allowed to provide children with free meals during school, this ensured the child received at least one healthy meal a day, they tried their best to follow this, but it was made compulsory in 1914. It was made aware that a child needs food in their stomach so it would not distract them for learning in class. As humanitarian Margaret McMillan said 'feed the stomach feed the mind'. It was also very important that they kids of Britain got fed because they were falling behind to America, and the fact they were malnourished meant that they country could not keep up with Americas increase in healthy children, which meant their country was also getting stronger and it was vital for Britain to keep up with America as an industrial power. Although it was a good thing that the kids of Britain were getting free meals it could be seen in a negative light as they took 8 years for it to be compulsory. In 1914, 14 million children got one free meal a day. In conclusion to the School meals act reform of 1906 it could be seen as a major success in tackling the problem of poverty because if they had free meals in school, it would enable them to concentrate more, thus helping them getting a better education and then a better job, which would earn them money, defeating the problem of poverty. Children not being protected in ever day life were a very big issue in Britain, therefore the Children’s Charter Act of 1908 was a big help.
This act assured that children were where looked after and not living on the streets or had no food or without an education. It banned children from drinking and smoking. It also separated children from adults in jails, and that they would be tried in juvenile courts and their identity was not made public. However it could be argued that the act took too long to be put into place, also certain parts of the act were hard to enforce which meant that the act only improved the welfare of children between 1906 and 1914. In conclusion, the success of the liberals tackling the problem of poverty by introducing the children’s charter was a success although it was harder than most of the acts to implement but it did protect the
children. Another thing the Liberals done to tackle the problem of poverty in Britain was help the elderly. The old age pension was introduced in 1908 by the liberals. The old age pension Act assured people over the age of 70, a weekly pension. The Chancellor of the Exchequer believed that the best way to help the people who were too old to be in employment was guaranteed a weekly income. They were given between 1 and 5 shillings a week depending on any other income that they were making. Seebohm Rowntree came up with a study which proved that poverty was a big deal in Britain. Rowntree’s study shows that a person needs a minimum of 7 shillings per week. The pension that labour was introducing only offends 1-5 shillings per week. Another key flaw was that people were dying too early to claim their pension. In those days, you were lucky if you lived till the age of 50 if you were living in the slums or the industrial part of town, this meant that by your early 50’s you were too old to continue to work. In conclusion, you could say that introducing the old age pension to tackle poverty was a failure; the amount of money given to the pensioner was not enough to live on and keep you above the poverty line. The act may not have solved the problem of poverty for the elderly but it did make life a bit easier for the pensioner. The liberals brought in the Labour exchange 1909 to help tackle the problem of poverty. This act helped workers get into employment by getting in touch with an employer. The liberals also built job centres for additional help for the unemployed. 83 jobs centres were built by 1910, and by the end of 1913 there were 430, this was hugely beneficial to the unemployed, the job centres weren’t used as people would have thought, unskilled workers used it to get a hot meal, fix their clothes, and have a wash and a shave. On the other hand, the down side to this act was that insured workers had an enforced pay cut because their contribution cut into their weekly wage and they were only insured after 15 weeks, after this period they would have no support even in long term unemployment struck. In conclusion, the labour exchange tackled the problem of poverty very well, even though there were wage cuts and only insured for 15 weeks, the act helped workers return to employment.
Another way the liberals tried to tackle poverty was introduce the national insurance act in 1911. This act helped cure temporary unemployment, but this act didn’t cover everyone. Unemployment insurance only covered 2.2million workers and required contributions from workers and, employers and the state. The unemployed worker got only 35p a week for up to 15 week in one year. Although the positives were great, there were negatives, the state insured that they unemployment levels would never drop below 5%, but by time it rose to over 10%. To conclude the national insurance act was an overall success in tackling poverty as it allowed you to be paid while you were unemployment and looking for a job.
The liberals introduced the Workman’s compensation act in 1906, this allowed workers to claim compensation if the event occurred that they got injured during work. Three years later the Liberals brought in the Coal mines act, this meant that the hours the worker worked were reduced to just 8 hours. Another act that was set up to help the worker was the trade board act in 1909. This act aimed to protect workers in sweated industries such as tailoring and lace making. Trade boards where set up to negotiate minimum wage for the workers. 2 years later the Liberals set up the Shop act, this meant that the hours they worked where cut and a guaranteed half day closing for shop assistants.
Another way the liberals aimed to tackle the problem of poverty in Britain was by bringing in the National Health Insurance Act. This act ranged between the ages of 16 all the way to 60 and only earning the wage of £160 per year. To get this the worker had to put away 4 pence each week to receive the benefits. If they did this, the employer would pay 3 pence and the stayed would pay 2 pence per week. This meant that the insured worker got 9 pence each week. 10 shillings was given to the worker per week if they had to be off work, but after 13 weeks it was reduced to just 5 shillings and the benefits only lasted 26 weeks. The benefits were paid at the new labour exchanges which also provided information on new jobs. Some would say the downside to the scheme would be because you were putting your own money it reduced the overall success, for example the four pence was out of your wage, therefore it could have made families even poorer. In conclusion to, the success of the national health insurance act in tackling the poverty was a success, even though it was primarily a wage cut, in the end it would help the family if the worker felt sick.