The Welfare State
HISTORY OF THE WELFARE STATE: The role and significance of the Beveridge Report in establishing the Welfare State in Britain.
The purpose of this essay is to look at the long history of the Welfare State in Britain and the evolving social, economic and political changes in society today, as well as the birth of the Welfare State after the Second World War which was the turning point (watershed) in British History. The freshly appointed Labour government by then took on the job of setting up a ‘welfare state’ that would systematically deal with the ‘five giant evils’ proposed by William Beveridge in a report, which later became known as the Beveridge report. The British welfare state, if it is to be defined, it is generally incorporated with Sir William Beveridge and the after war period.
Welfare State is the concept in which government plays a key role in protecting and promoting the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based on the principles of equal opportunity in the distribution of wealth and public responsibility for those who lack the minimal provisions for a good life, for example good health, education and basic income (Abercrombie and Warde 2000). Is it the responsibility of a government to provide for its citizen, what about the cost, because it can lead to ever-increasing public spending that the government may find difficult to sustain. According to Abercrombie and Warde (2000) the term ‘welfare state’ was invented, following the Second World War when Social policy was developing.
During the Second World War, the coalition government headed by Winston Churchill, the conservative party torch bearer deliberately planned the creation of a better Britain than the one in which many people have lived in the poverty-stricken 1930s. Plans were drafted and policies were generated which were to ensure that, in peacetime, there would be a family support system, good health care for all, more jobs will be made available as well as creating new
The purpose of this essay is to look at the long history of the Welfare State in Britain and the evolving social, economic and political changes in society today, as well as the birth of the Welfare State after the Second World War which was the turning point (watershed) in British History. The freshly appointed Labour government by then took on the job of setting up a ‘welfare state’ that would systematically deal with the ‘five giant evils’ proposed by William Beveridge in a report, which later became known as the Beveridge report. The British welfare state, if it is to be defined, it is generally incorporated with Sir William Beveridge and the after war period.
Welfare State is the concept in which government plays a key role in protecting and promoting the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based on the principles of equal opportunity in the distribution of wealth and public responsibility for those who lack the minimal provisions for a good life, for example good health, education and basic income (Abercrombie and Warde 2000). Is it the responsibility of a government to provide for its citizen, what about the cost, because it can lead to ever-increasing public spending that the government may find difficult to sustain. According to Abercrombie and Warde (2000) the term ‘welfare state’ was invented, following the Second World War when Social policy was developing.
During the Second World War, the coalition government headed by Winston Churchill, the conservative party torch bearer deliberately planned the creation of a better Britain than the one in which many people have lived in the poverty-stricken 1930s. Plans were drafted and policies were generated which were to ensure that, in peacetime, there would be a family support system, good health care for all, more jobs will be made available as well as creating new
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