The Need for Reform

The Need for Reform

1. Hardship in the 1920s

   • Only help for poor: workhouses
     • Provided food and lodging in exchange for long hours in brutal conditions
   • Serious unemployment
     • No unemployment benefit
   • Old people with no savings suffered badly
     • No government pensions
       • Only option: workhouses
   • Poor housing: cold, cramped, no sewage system
     • Easy to get ill, meaning missing work and therefore losing your job
   • People couldn't afford doctors or medicine
   • Children had to work at an early age and miss out on education